


Go Down Singing

by supercatcoworldwide



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Humor, Romance, Song fic, just a little cracky, kinda sorta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-05-13 17:10:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5710432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercatcoworldwide/pseuds/supercatcoworldwide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kara has found a new form of stress relief, since she can’t afford an unlimited supply of cars to beat up. </p><p>Cat is surprised to find that while her assistant is apparently not an alien, she has been hiding something just as interesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Thursday, September 24th

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after “Blood Bonds”, but the timeline is adjusted so that the first chapter begins on September 24th, 2015. This is my first fic, so reviews/criticism would be much appreciated. You can find me on tumblr at catcoworldwide. 
> 
> My awesome beta is yellow-nova (who also made the beautiful cover for the fic).

“I will call when I am ready to be picked up, Kevin. Don’t expect it to be anytime soon. They are probably running around like chickens with their heads cut off just because I am a smidge late.” Cat glances at her watch. She supposes 2 hours might be more than a smidge late.

“I will be here whenever you are ready, Ms. Grant.” Her driver closes the door behind her. By the time he is back behind the wheel, Cat is halfway through the front doors of CatCo.

Cat tosses a cursory “Thank you, Devin” at the night security guard jogs over to swipe her into her private elevator. As she presses the button for the top floor, it crosses her mind that her driver might be named Devin and the security guard might be named Kevin. _Oh well, close enough._

She leaves the elevator, and it takes her a moment to realize that the only person left in the office is that idiot with the absurd red hair. He seems to be shoveling some sort of foul-smelling food into his mouth from a Tupperware container. _Does he even realize how ridiculous he looks?_

“Hi…errrllo, Ms. G-Grant! I didn’t know anyone was coming back...Wh-Wha-What are you doing here?”

“My office is on this floor. Which I own. Along with the rest of this building, and majority shares of the company. For. Which. You. Work.” Cat proudly restrains herself from commenting on his inability to even manage a simple hello without inventing a new word.

“The real question is why the rest of my staff is _not_ here when the layout of the Tribune has not been finished in addition to the final layout for National City Weekly. It is due at the printer’s by midnight, which is in,” Cat glances at her watch, “less than four hours.”

He stands there, gaping at her. She can’t tell whether he is going to vomit, wet himself, or just respond to her rather simple inquiry.

“That was not a rhetorical question. Where is my staff?” She is mentally calculating how many people she can fire before that woman in HR starts giving her trouble.

“Well… Um…”

“Breathe. Think. Speak.” Cat resists tapping her foot, while the man’s face slowly returns to a shade of red only marginally less absurd than his hair.

“Well everyone finished up their parts of the layouts around 6 like we usually do…and we gave everything to Kara like we usually do…and everyone left like they usually do once they give Kara their articles or pictures or classified section or ad formats or-“

Cat cuts him off with a wave. “I think I get the point. They all finished and left. That still leaves me with two questions. First, if everyone had done their job, as you claim, why is it that I do not have two finished layouts in my hand?”

“I-I think Kara mentioned something about… um…maybe…sending you some texts? Maybe? I could be wrong. I tend to be wrong. I should really reevaluate some of my life choices…”

Cat stops paying attention to his spiral as she pulls out her phone, seeing she has eight missed texts. Didn’t Kara learn about brevity when she was earning her Journalism degree?

 

My Assistant (5:45 pm): Hi Ms. Grant! I know you are probably still having dinner with Carter, but I just figured you would want an update on the layouts since you are usually here by now. Not that you have to be here at a certain time, you are the boss! Anyway, everything is on schedule. The classifieds, sports, and local sections are all ready for the Tribune. I had James look over the formatting, so I think they are ready to go (pending your final approval of course!).

My Assistant (5:55 pm): All of the ad pages are ready for the Weekly! Oh, and the National section is finally in, so tomorrow’s edition of the Tribune is ready to go, once you have a chance to look it over, of course. I caught a few typos that copy-editing must have missed. I think I caught everything, but you always see things I miss so…

My Assistant (5:59 pm): James had to tweak some things for the Weekly’s layout, but he said the article order from this morning’s meeting still works. I think the Weekly is ready to go!

My Assistant (6:03 pm): I’m sorry! I lied! I found another typo! But I fixed it! I’m going to go ahead and put these layouts on your desk so they are ready when you are!

 

Cat stops reading Kara’s texts (or maybe it is her personal diary, she can’t really tell) long enough to find the books for the Tribune and the Weekly on her desk. Her spare glasses are sitting on top of them. She manages to finish skimming through half of the Tribune when she sees that the redheaded idiot is just standing there staring at her. “Why are you still staring at me?”

“I thought you had…um…a second question for me?”

Cat looks at him over her glasses, taking note of his container full of food, the cartoon paused on his laptop screen, and the pillow sitting under his desk.

“Ah, yes. I was going to ask you why you were still in the office. Clearly, it isn’t because of your work ethic and can-do attitude. I’m sure you aren’t so stupid to think you would be able to get away with living in the office. You may go home to your mother’s basement now.” Cat waves him away with a flick of her wrist before she finishes glancing through the Tribune and the Weekly.

Both of the finished products are surprisingly…finished. She didn’t find any typos or grammatical errors. She always can find a grammatical error. _I’m sure it is just because I’m not taking the time I usually do._ Cat returns to reading Kara’s texts.

           

My Assistant (6:15 pm): Is everything ok? I know you are probably just having a long dinner with Carter, but you always get here at 5:30 on the dot on Thursdays to wrangle the headless chickens. I know Carter had to give that presentation in English today. That didn’t stress him out too much, did it? I’m sure he did fine. He must have practiced that thing a thousand times.

My Assistant (6:31 pm): I just remembered that Carter made his presentation on his MacBook! Did he have compatibility issues? Do the school computers only run Windows programs? I knew I should have sent him with a VGA adapter. I am soooooo sorry Cat.

My Assistant (6:33 pm): I’m sure you are staying home with Carter. I’ll just send both layouts to your email. I’ll hang out here to fix whatever you find. Just let me know! (Again, super sorry for not thinking about getting Carter a VGA adapter!)

My Assistant (7:05 pm): So I emailed myself the layouts too, just in case. If I don’t hear from you by 11:50 pm, I will go ahead and send them to the printer. I hope everything is alright…I think I’m going to head home since it is just me and Chuckie left here, and he is starting to microwave some really weird looking leftovers. I think he might be living here. If you need me back in the office, just call/text me back. I can get there in ten minutes tops!

 

“Siri, call My Assistant.”

As Cat listening to the dial tone, she can’t help but smile and think that Kara didn’t need ten minutes to get to the office; she could probably get there faster than the speed of sound if she were so inclined. No she couldn’t. Supergirl could. Kara was not Supergirl. Kara and Supergirl were two discreet people. Kara is not Superg-

“Ms. Grant! I am so happy to hear from you? Is everything ok? How is Carter? Can you tell him I’m sorry about his presentation? Are you still at home? Can you see the layout ok on your computer? I know you prefer to see the physical book. I should have brought it over. Do you want me to bring you the books right now? I can grab them from the office and get to your building in 20 minutes. I would be there by 8:00 at the latest. I’ll head back right now-“

“Kiera, breathe. I’m leaving the office now, and I already looked over the books. Carter didn’t even have his presentation today; they had to split the presentations over two days. Nothing is wrong, I simply lost track of time. Carter was rather excited about some heroic feat that Supergirl pulled off this afternoon. Apparently the school let them watch live as she saved a kitten or something. I’m sure you heard about it, James had a picture of the daring rescue above the fold. If I recall, he managed to capture the exploding tanker truck and small child she was carrying. Personally, I thought it was a little hard to see the kitten on her shoulder, but I suppose the picture will have to do.”

“Oh! I’m so glad you are all right! I don’t know why I was so freaked out. It’s not like there is a small chance that you both are being used as bait by a sociopathic tech billionaire…” Kara’s last sentence is drowned out by a loud cheer.

“What did you just say? And why is it so noisy? According to your five thousandth text, you were heading back to your apartment.”

**“** _Welcome to McHale’s_ **!”**

“Oh sorry! I’m just, um, grabbing a burger before I head home. The restaurant is a bit rowdy. Anyway, I can head to the office now to add your edits to the digital copy. I should be able to send it to the printer by 9:00, easy.”

“Don’t bother, Kiera. Both books were acceptable enough. I already forwarded your email to the printer. Make sure my latte is a double tomorrow.” Cat hangs up and gets on the elevator. McHale’s is that bar down the street isn’t it? She feels like she should at least pay for her assistant’s dinner after she handled covering for her so well. Cat exits the elevator, and the night guard opens the door for her.

“Thank you, Kevin.”

On second thought, Cat isn’t sure whether he is even the same guard from earlier. Oh well, she tried. It’s a short 2-block walk to the pub, which she assumes her employees must frequent after work. Then again, they tend leave CatCo and its immediate vicinity as quickly as possible to avoid being called back in. A group of college students pile into the open door, through which Cat can see that the bar is packed-especially since there isn’t a game that night. Once of them almost knocks over the chalkboard sign on the sidewalk, leaving the green chalk smudged, so Cat can barely make out the message: Open Mic Night. 


	2. September 24th

Cat enters the bar and instantly regrets her decision. This is not her type of drinking establishment. It noisy. And casual. And for some reason, this restaurant has decided that pickles should be fried. She makes her way past a table of middle-aged women in the middle of “GIRLS’ NIGHT‼!” and is relieved to find a seat at the end of the bar closest to the door. It seems as though most of the bar’s patrons have chosen to sit at the tables near the brightly lit stage.

She scans the crowd, hoping to find Kara quickly before someone notices that the Queen of All Media is sitting in a bar that probably considers Grey Goose a top-shelf liquor. She can’t really see all of the tables near the stage, as there are wooden columns blocking her view.

The place is surprisingly large. The stage and most of the tables are past the columns, perhaps the owner had decided to expand and knocked down the wall between the two spaces. The décor is unexpectedly…tasteful.

Cat’s search is interrupted by the bartender. “Hi! I’m Nick, welcome to McHale’s. Is there anything I can get for you, or do you want to wait for whoever you’re meeting?”

“I’m not meeting anyone, I’m just…looking around,” Cat responds vaguely.

“Sorry, it seemed like you were looking for someone. Anyway, Open Mic is about to start, which means half priced drafts!” Nick gives her a quick once-over before continuing, “I also make an excellent martini.”

“I suppose a vodka martini will be acceptable. I’m assuming you don’t have any decent gin; no one these days appreciates a proper cocktail. Just use whatever vodka you consider top shelf,” Cat dismisses him with a wave.

“One vodka martini coming up,” Nick walks toward the register to ring it up. He calls over his shoulder, “Unless you want to hear our gin selection? I try to rotate a few of the more niche gins. I don’t know if botanicals are your thing, but I have some St. George’s, which is one of my favorites. I also have a bottle of Tanqueray No. 10 if you like the classics.”

Cat raises her eyebrows before she can catch herself. “Tanqueray 10 will be fine.”

Nick returns a few minutes later with her drink. She takes a careful sip. He raises his eyebrow as though he is expecting a compliment or something. She just takes another sip and turns back to survey the restaurant again. Perhaps Kara is in the restroom. Her view is also blocked by a table of businessmen wearing suits that might have been fashionable five years and 15 pounds ago.

“Are you sure you aren’t waiting for someone? I can help keep an eye out for them if you want?

“Well Nick, I thought my assistant was going to be here. She was…competent today when I was unavailable to supervise a time-sensitive project. I had planned to simply stop in, cover her bill, and call for my car; however, this ‘event’ you have tonight has made it rather challenging to find her. I can’t just hand my credit card over to a waiter and tell him to cover the bill for all of the hot blondes in the bar, now can I?”

“Hot blonde, huh?” Nick replies with a smirk. Cat rolls her eyes.

“It is more concise than asking for a 5’ 7” blonde, 24 years old, glasses, who is most likely wearing garishly colored pants and a blouse featuring a print from Miranda Priestly’s nightmares. She also tends to be completely unaware that half the men in any given room are in love with her. You haven’t happened to see any ‘hot blondes’ fitting that description, have you?”

“Well I haven’t noticed anyone fitting that absolutely _flattering_ description, which really seems to show how much you value her competency by the way, but then again, hot blondes aren’t really my type,” he says with a wink. “She does sound familiar though, I think one of our regulars---“ He is cut off by a deafening cheer from the crowd.

“It looks like our first performer is coming out. Anyway, like I was saying, the only person I can think of is one of our regulars for open mic. I think this is her now.”

Cat is turning to look at the stage as she replies, “I don’t think my assistant can manage to _speak_ in front of a crowd much less…”

Cat’s voice trails off as she sees a blonde step into the spotlight with another roar from the crowd. She certainly isn’t dressed like Kara, with her skinny jeans and bright red blouse. Then again, the stage lights are glaring off the girl’s glasses and her hair does seem to be twisted into some sort of practical yet intricate bun…

The band starts to play the intro after a nod from the blonde. She fidgets with her glasses before beginning to sing.

_You shout it out,  
But I can't hear a word you say_

Cat’s jaw drops. She is still trying to process the fact that she has just seen this woman perfectly imitate her assistant’s nervous tic. While also managing to sound better than most recording artists. Cat would know, she is on Adele’s Christmas card list.

  
_I'm talking loud, not saying much_  
 _I'm criticized, but all your bullets ricochet_  
 _You shoot me down, but I get up_

 

“So is that your assistant?”

Cat absentmindedly waves him away, not taking her eyes off of the stage. The girl grips the mic with both hands, standing completely still as she begins the chorus.

_I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose_   
_Fire away, fire away_   
_Ricochet, you take your aim_   
_Fire away, fire away_

The music starts to pick up, the beat building with her voice. She becomes more animated, moving with the music.

  
_You shoot me down but I won't fall_   
_I am titanium_   
_You shoot me down but I won't fall_   
_I am titanium_

 

As the blonde belts the final syllable of the chorus, she closes her eyes and tilts her head back just enough for her glasses to stop reflecting the stage lights. It is Kara. There is no way around it. Cat might have had some issues in the past, seeing some resemblance to Kara in another spectacularly gifted woman, but this was completely different. It was obvious by the way the blonde gives a small smile to the band when they effortlessly followed her tempo changes.

_Cut me down  
But it's you who'll have further to fall_

Kara almost spits out the line, staring down the back wall of the bar. Cat follows her eyes and briefly entertains the idea that Kara is looking at the CatCo headquarters through the wall. But that would be ridiculous.

  
_Raise your voice, sticks and stones may break my bones_  
 _I'm talking loud not saying much_

_Oh-O, Oooo_

 

Cat shifts uncomfortably in her seat. The lyrics seem a tad…pointed. Kara moves out of the chorus and into the bridge and the audience hangs onto every word she sings.

 

_Stone-heart, machine gun_   
_Firing at the ones who run_   
_Stone heart loves bulletproof glass_

 

The crowd goes insane as Kara pours her heart into the final chorus, and when she finishes the noise is deafening. Kara gives a quick nod to the audience before she heads off stage, saying something quietly to the band on her way. Cat tries to see where she is going, but loses track of her once she steps off the stage.

Nick clears his throat. “So I’m guessing that was the woman you were looking for?”

Cat turns back to him and it seems to take a moment for her to collect herself. “As a matter of fact, yes,” she replies, “that does seem to be my assistant. Would you mind combining her tab with mine?” Cat hands him her card, and takes out her phone to text her driver.

“Sorry, but she never eats here. She’s been coming for a month now, but she just heads straight back to make sure she is first on the list, completely slays, and then she just disappears after. I’ll close you out though, just give me a sec.”

Cat finishes her text to her driver and brings up some sort of file on her phone. Nick returns with her receipt, pulling her out of whatever she is reading. As she is signing he asks, “What is her name, anyway? She always just writes ‘K’ on the sign in sheet. The band wants to know her deal.”

“I’m afraid that is not my information to give out, Nick. She is a very private person, and I’m afraid she would be terribly embarrassed if she knew I was here. Actually, I would appreciate it if you did not mention to the band, or anyone else, that you saw me here tonight.” She signs the receipt with a flourish, and walks towards the door to wait for Devin.

Nick’s eyes widen when he sees the tip she left. It is more than his all of his tips combined for the night. He looks toward the door to thank her, but she is still absorbed in whatever she is reading, occasionally pausing to type a note to herself.

“No one will believe me anyway, Ms. Grant” Nick mutters to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I edited some of the formatting, but none of the content changed.


	3. Friday, September 25th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cat does some research. Every good plan starts with good research. Some might call it 'invading someone's privacy' but Cat calls it good research.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the response to the story so far! It is my first fic ever, so I really appreciate any and all feedback.  
> I'm sorry it took me a while to get this chapter up. I have made the horrible choice to let SuperCat into my life at the same time as studying for the MCAT. We will see which Cat wins the war (hint: it will probably be the blonde filled with words of wisdom).

“Carter, the car is downstairs! Are you almost ready?” Cat calls towards his room.

“Almost!”

“Do you have everything for your presentation? Your laptop? The adapter I left for you?”

Carter hastily opens his door, pulling on his book bag as he closes his door. “The VGA adapter that you rummaged through your entire office to find last night? Then insisted I put it in my bag as you watch? No. I specifically took it out, just so you would freak out this morning.”

Cat gives him her best glare, for however long she can hold it anyway. “While I appreciate that you are branching out in your humor, I would like to remind you that I can also make you come to my office this afternoon instead of getting to come home to play video games. So let’s watch that sass?”

“Sorry, Mom,” Carter replies, grinning. “You know how much absolutely _hate_ sitting around at your office, hanging out with Kara and Winn, playing video games in your office…”

Cat just rolls her eyes and opens the door. She needs to find who has been teaching him how to use sarcasm. There is no way he is getting it from her.

* * *

 

Cat steps of the elevator an hour later and is greeted with a steaming hot latte. A brightly smiling assistant is attached to it. “Morning, Kiera. You seem especially chipper this morning.”

“Good morning, Ms. Grant! I have your schedule for the day, if you want to go over it now.”

“I never said it was a _good_ morning, Kiera. I was only acknowledging that the morning had in fact arrived,” Cat replies in a bored tone, before continuing, “but in any case, I would like for you to clear my afternoon. I have a small project I’m working on, and I would like free time to conduct some research.”

“Yes, Ms. Grant. I will try to shuffle around some of your meetings. I should be able to fit most of section editors this morning…” Kara trails off, mentally calculating how many egos she can schedule into one hour before Cat has to move from lattes to Lexapro.

“I will be in my office, just send me the updated schedule by email,” Cat strides toward her office, before calling over her shoulder “I won’t need my lettuce wrap today, I will be eating out.” 

A few hours later, Cat is finally finished spoon-feeding her editorial staff. Much to her own surprise, she has been unusually tolerant of their mediocrity. She only made one person cry, and he was really only sniffling. She also set a new personal record by not threatening to fire any of them. Well she did imply one of them would be better suited working in the mailroom, but that was a threatened demotion, so it doesn’t count.

She finishes saving several archived newspaper articles into her personal Dropbox, before she calls Kara into her office. Kara pokes her head in cautiously, waiting for Cat to wave her forward. She places a fresh latte on Cat’s desk, automatically retrieving Cat’s notes from her morning meetings. They will be typed and saved to Cat’s computer within the hour. The girl really is competent.

“Kiera, was that the last of my meetings? I have a couple things I need to finish up before I leave for lunch.”

“Um…yes. Well, all of them I could reschedule. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t reschedule your meeting with the digital editor about the weekend content. Ms. Bryson was across town meeting with the CEO of the new marketing service that is providing ads for the website. I tried, but she couldn’t get it rescheduled to this afternoon.”

“Fine. You will just have to handle that, I suppose,” Cat replies absentmindedly, opening another article on her computer. “I will be leaving for lunch in a half-hour, and I will not be coming back in.”

“Of course Ms. Grant. I’ll go tell James right now. I’m sure he can take the meeting for you.” Kara turns to track him down, hoping she can catch him before he leaves for lunch.

“Kiera! Did I ask James to handle it?” Cat asks sharply.

“N-No, I just thought that since handled that last time with the digital edition, and he knows more about—“

“Knows more about what, Kiera?” Cat interrupts. “He is a photographer. Why would I want him approving the _written_ content of our most lucrative platform? You will take the meeting and may text me if there are any problems you cannot resolve; however, Lisa is far more competent than the section editors you handled last night. It should not be an issue.”

“Thank you?” Kara responds hesitantly.

“Yes. Well, I really need to finish this,” Cat gestures toward her computer and pushes her glasses back up her nose. “I will see you on Monday.”

Cat watches as Kara walks out of her office in a daze. Honestly, the girl is acting as though Cat never compliments her. It is ridiculous. _I mean I thought she was superhero, for God’s sake._

Cat presses print for the article she has open on her screen, and she checks to make sure her phone has synced the updated research file while she waits for the printer. She opens her bottom desk drawer and pulls out a manila folder. She grabs the article from the printer and places it on top of several photocopied report cards, before she slides the folder into her purse and makes her way to the elevator.

* * *

 

Cat is pleased to see the same bartender from the night before when she walks into McHale’s. He gives her a wave as he finishes drying a pint glass.

“Ms. Grant!” Nick exclaims. “What can I do for the Queen of All Media today? I mean, I know I make a good drink, but…”

“I wouldn’t be opposed to a drink; however, I am actually here to speak to you about last night,” Cat responds. Her gaze shifts briefly to the tray a waitress is bringing to a table on the far side of the pub before she returns her focus to the bartender. “Nick, correct?” _Of course I’m correct. I never forget a good martini_. “I was hoping you could help me with a little research project I’m working on.”

“Let me guess. This ‘research project’ involves a certain hot blonde,” Nick says grinning. “How about I order you one of those burgers you were drooling over, and then I can answer whatever questions you have while you eat?”

“Well I suppose that since you don’t have a lettuce wrap on the menu, a burger will be fine. Medium rare, hold the onions,” Cat pauses. “And a side of fries.”

“Absolutely. Can I tempt you with a beer, or should I start on your martini?” Nick is already reaching for the gin before he finishes his question.

“Martini. And a glass of water.”

A little later, Cat halfway through her burger and actually manages to pause long enough to start asking questions.

“When did my assistant first sing here?”

“She has performed four times, including yesterday,” Nick replies immediately. “So, that would mean, her first time was the first Thursday of the month. The second or third maybe? Definitely before Labor Day.”

Cat raises her eyebrow and responds icily, “I thought hot blondes weren’t your thing? You seem to have paid a lot of attention to someone who isn’t your type?

Nick gives Cat a smirk that would rival one of her own. “Trust me. Anyone would remember her first performance. Or really any of her performances. It doesn’t hurt that my husband is the head of the house band, and my Thursday nights consist of him gushing about her voice, musicality, stage presence, personality, yada, yada, yada.”

“Really?” Cat instantly thaws. She doesn’t know why it irked her in the first place. _Probably because Kara is already in the middle of some cliché love triangle and I don’t need my assistant being distracted by yet another drooling man._ “So he must have spoken to her about her background, her training, et cetera?”

“Nope!” Nick replies. “Like I said last night, no one even knows her name. Matt says she doesn’t really talk about herself, but she always makes sure her song is ok with the band. Kinda acts like she is afraid of making them go out of their way just because she has a specific song in mind.”

That makes Cat pause for a moment. Perhaps that song choice _was_ a tad pointed. “So what did she sing that first night? Since it was _oh so_ memorable.”

Nick smirks. “I could tell you but I can do you one better. Matt was trying out a new drummer that night, so he had a camera recording the entire night. I think the camera is still in the back, if you want me to check. To better serve your research, of course.”

“Yes, well, that would certainly help my research…” Cat replies, failing miserably at her attempt to appear indifferent.

Nick winks and says, “I’ll be right back.”

While she waits, Cat pulls out her phone and checks her calendar to confirm a theory. Just as she thought, the first night Kara had come to sing was the night after her ‘Kara is an alien who uses her powers for lattes’ theory was disproven. _Well I guess I handle stress with sake, and she handles it by singing in front of a room full of strangers._

Nick returns a few minutes later holding a flash drive and a basket of something fried. “I found it on his laptop back there, so I figured I’d just put it on this so you could watch it whenever. You know, for research. You can just bring the drive back when you have a chance. Or you could have your assistant drop it off if you’re busy,” he says wiggling his eyebrows.

Cat glares at him, before putting out her hand for the flash drive. “Thank you. _I_ will return this as soon as possible.”

He hands it over with a smirk worthy of one of her own. “By the way, the kitchen sent me out with these fried pickles. Apparently someone changed their mind after they had already been ordered. Do you want some? They _are_ our specialty…” Nick give her a hopeful grin.

“You are going to keep looking at me like that until I try one, aren’t you?” Cat sighs.

“Yes ma’am!”

“Will you let me sit here in peace to review my files if I try one?”

“Absolutely! You won’t hear a peep out of me! I can’t promise that you won’t miss my sparkling conversation though. I’m a delight!” He replies lightly.

Cat pulls out her manila folder, pulls out a newspaper article about a high school choir performance, and reaches toward the basket muttering, “Why the hell would someone fry a pickle in the first place?”

She keeps her expression carefully schooled as she eats the breaded and deep fried vegetable (in the loosest sense of the word). After she finishes, she simply waves Nick away and focuses on reading the content in her folder.

A half hour later, Nick clears the empty basket from the bar as Cat is texting her driver. She returns the folder to her purse and pulls out her wallet.

“Thank you Nick for the video. I will bring that flash drive back as soon as I can.” Cat stands and places several bills on the bar, one of which would cover what she owed, before she walks out of the pub. She checks the time and realizes she will be cutting it close if she wants to make that phone call before she picks up Carter.

When Cat gets home, she immediately heads to her office and sits at her desk. She turns on the single TV, and checks to make sure Kara hasn’t texted her with any problems. Her phone has been suspiciously quiet for the afternoon. Not that Kara should have any issues. If she can handle getting two publications to print, wrangling editors she has no authority over, she will have no problem meeting with one editor.

Cat glances at the time, and at 2:35 on the dot, she dials the number she has jotted down in her folder. She knows she could have made this call back at the office, and perhaps been able to meet with digital, but she is still wary of having private conversations near Kara. Not that she has super-hearing or anything.

“This is Ms. Schmidt, how may I help you?”

“Hello, Ms. Schmidt. This is Cat Grant, I emailed you last night about some quick questions I had about one of my employees. You said this would be the best time to contact you?”

“Ah, yes! Ms. Grant! I have to admit, I didn’t expect you to call me yourself. I figured a woman as busy as yourself would have an assistant or someone call.”

“Yes, well I am calling about my assistant,” Cat replies. “It would defeat the purpose to have Kara call her old choir teacher, wouldn’t it?”

“Kara Danvers? Oh I was just thinking about her the other day when we had solo auditions for the Christmas concert! How is she doing?” Ms. Schmidt seems thrilled to just hear the girl’s name.

“She is doing quite well, actually that is why I called.” Cat answers. “I have become aware that she has left several things off of her résumé, and if she ever hopes to advance within this corporation, she needs to learn how to acknowledge her strengths. I was hoping to find out more about her talents so I can help her in this endeavor.”

Cat pauses, hoping that it is plausible that The Queen of All Media is helping her assistant revise her résumé. She continues, “and may I assume that an excellent solo performance by Kara was why you remembered her at the auditions?”

“Oh no, dear! I supposed I shouldn’t say this out loud, but since I don’t have any more classes for the day…I was actually thinking about how none of the students were remotely talented enough to be trusted to sing a solo. And how I always regret when the students with enough ego to want to sing a solo tend to not have the talent to back it up.” Ms. Schmidt says quietly, afraid of being overheard. “Students like Kara, on the other hand, could have won any audition she attempted, but never wanted to do anything that would draw attention to her talent. “A shame, really. She was the most naturally gifted and hardest working student I have ever taught in over 20 years.”

“Really? What makes you say that?” Cat probes.

“Oh, well, it’s not as though she ever showed off, so I never really heard her at full strength unless she didn’t think anyone was listening. There was one time when I came in early to get the auditorium set up for the concert, and she was just singing to herself. I think it was ‘New York State of Mind.’ It was simply unbelievable.” Ms. Schmidt seems to be lost in thought for a moment.

“And Kara was always so willing to help. She never wanted to be in the Spring musicals, but she always volunteered to do tech. Heck, one time she even filled in on piano for me when I hurt my wrist! It was a few weeks before the concert, and we really could _not_ afford to rehearse without it.”

“See, these are the things that are keeping Kara from having a good CV,” Cat interjects. “If she has experience in setting up sound equipment or stage management, she should inform her future and _current_ employers! And you said she can play the piano, too?”

“Oh yes, she is fairly proficient on the piano.” Ms. Schmidt replies. “She was our rehearsal pianist for at least two weeks, and did an admirable job for such a last minute thing. A few missed notes, chords that sounded a little wonky, but she did a solid job. Honestly, it always seemed…” Ms. Schmidt trails off, deciding not to continue.

“What did it always seem like?”

“Well, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. It was just a feeling I got, and I never actually saw anything to back it up.”

Cat presses, “I would like to hear it anyway. It isn’t as though I have much to work with,” she says as she flips through her sparse folder of research, which only contains local newspaper puff pieces about choir concerts. “She is remarkably adept at avoiding anyone acknowledging her accomplishments. I only found one article from your newspaper where she was even mentioned specifically, and that was just because she was pictured!”

“She did like to keep her head down, I suppose.” Ms. Schmidt replies. “I was just thinking about how she seemed to downplay her talent, almost on purpose. You know, with the singing or with the whole piano thing. The first day I walked in with a brace on my wrist, she seemed hesitant to even say that she knew how to play. She probably said about ten times that she wasn’t sure if she could do it and that she only played a little. But when she was reading the music, it didn’t seem like she was struggling to sight-read the music. I mean, she made plenty of mistakes, but I don’t know…it almost seemed like she was having to remind herself to mess up.”

“Why would you say that?” Cat asks.

“Well she would get distracted by something. Most likely the tenors messing up. They always mess up. Anyway, I would look over and she would be focused on whatever was going on, not looking at the music at all, and she would be playing perfectly. Not a single mistake. But whenever she saw me looking at her or asked her to play the part for the tenors to hear or something, she would miss a note or two. Just enough to maintain the ‘adequate’ label. I might have just been seeing what I wanted to see though. She was such a talented girl, and I just wanted her to be seen. You know?”

Cat hums in agreement.

“And I could have sworn I heard her practicing one morning before class, she had first period you know, and it sounded like the cadenza from the Grieg Piano Concerto. I was just walking down the hall, and I just barely heard it. As soon as I got closer it stopped though, and I’m sure it is just because I had heard it the night before on the radio….”

“Anyway, I hope this helped, Ms. Grant!” she says brightly. “I have to work the carpool lane today, so I should head out there. Please give Kara my love. I miss having her in class.”

Cat checks the time in surprise. “Oh, it has gotten late hasn’t it? I need to get in a carpool line of my own. Thank you for your help, and I will tell Kara you sent your love. If you think of anything other talents Kara has been hiding from me, please give me a call. I will email you my private number, which I would prefer you use for obvious reasons.”

“Absolutely. Have a nice day!” Ms. Schmidt hangs up, and Cat quickly gathers her bag to go pick up Carter. She is already plotting a way to make Kara finally acknowledge her talent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on tumblr at catcoworldwide. I'd love to talk headcanons, my OCs, or anything else!


	4. Monday, September 28th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara goes out to lunch with Shipper!Lucy and the SuperSquad. Cat puts her plot into motion after a brief distraction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might have had a little extra free time since the snow meant no work, so this chapter is a bit on the long side..  
> As always, you can find a YouTube link to the song featured in the chapter on my Tumblr at catcoworldwide.  
> My wonderful, eternally patient, procrastination tolerant beta is yellow-nova.

Kara straightens a stack of prints from James that is sitting on her desk. She moves the stack to the left of her computer. She sticks a Post-It to the top file, ‘For Review’ written in neat handwriting. She puts the pen back in its cup and then arranges her various writing utensils based on color. She moves the prints back to the right side of her computer and glances toward Cat’s office. Kara is bored.

It had been unexpectedly easy morning. Cat had been through two meetings and one conference call with some board members, and had yet to ask Kara to do anything other than take notes during the conference call. She had run out of things to rearrange on her desk waiting for Cat to need something.

Now that Kara thinks about it, Cat has been going easier on her lately. She still has to run around the building, bringing Cat reports from various departments and harassing those who hadn’t finished them, checking on the progress of mock-ups and the like, but she hasn’t had to run around National City like she used to do. Other than lattes and lettuce wraps (with the occasional cheeseburger salad), she hasn’t been sent out for anything that didn’t directly relate to CatCo operations.

A lazily shouted “Kiera” interrupts Kara’s thoughts, and she stands up so quickly that she knocks over her neatly organized cup of pens onto the stack of prints. She hastily grabs the stack and practically runs into Cat’s office.

“Yes, Ms. Grant?”

“Kiera. I see you have the prints from James. Did he have any trouble with my instructions?”

“Not at all,” Kara replied. “He sent over a lot of options though. I went ahead and put the ones I thought you would like on the top. From what you were discussing last week, I think the first three will fit what you wanted. But if you don’t like those, there are plenty of other options for the spread.”

Cat looks through the stack slowly, examining each photo and comparing them to each other before she hands three prints back to Kara.

“Tell James to prepare the spread with the photos you chose. While you are there, you should tell him he should learn how to curate his own work so others don’t have to.” Cat gathers the rest of the prints back into a stack.

“I will…definitely say that to him in those words exactly.” Kara turns to leave, but Cat stops her.

“You can take care of it after you come back from your lunch break,” says Cat offhandedly. “The accompanying article hasn’t even been submitted yet.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I’ll be here anyway. I usually stick around the office for lunch…”

Cat glares. “Do you really think I can’t survive two hours on my own? I mean really, Kiera. I thought that memo from HR after the ‘squatting ginger’ incident made it clear that living in the office was frowned upon,” Cat says sarcastically.

“Y-Yes Ms. Grant. I mean, no I don’t think you can’t survive without me. Yes, I know I can’t live in the office.” Kara moves toward the door again, but hesitates.

“Did you need something else?” Cat asks.

“I just wanted to check, since you hadn’t said anything and I wasn’t sure, um…Did you have any problems with the articles w-we chose to feature on the digital edition?” Kara stammers. “Lisa-I mean Ms. Bryson pretty much had it under control, it was more of a formality really, but I know how important digital is for our revenue, and…”

Cat stares her down, waiting for her to trail off.

“Do you really think that if it wasn’t up to my standards, you wouldn’t have heard from me?” Cat asks impatiently. “I mean, honestly. I thought you were learning something from me, but apparently not.”

Cat stands and gestures at the wall of TVs behind her. “Do you really think I got all of this without having confidence in my work? You _have_ to stop second-guessing yourself. The digital edition is not going to fall into shambles simply because you took a meeting for me. A meeting which, according to Lisa, went perfectly well by the way. I believe she said something about how it ‘felt as though I was meeting with you,’ but that you managed to be nice when you pointed out that she was an idiot.”

Kara gasps. “I never told her she was an idiot, Ms. Grant, I promise! I just pointed out that the article she had picked for the top of the page didn’t have any great photos to go with it, so I suggested we put the refugee story there instead. You know how great that freelancer in Greece is, and he sent us enough pictures to make a slideshow, so I figured it might work better…”

“My point is that you made a decision that I would have made, and you did it with confidence and authority.” Cat walks around her desk to stand in front of Kara. “You need to learn to stand your ground and take pride in the fact that you are good at your job. I would have fired you by now if you weren’t.”

Kara doesn’t know how to respond to that completely unqualified compliment.

Cat looks at her for a moment before moving back behind her desk. Apparently the motivational speech portion of the day has concluded.

“Don’t you have a lunch break that needs attending to?

* * *

 

“I still can’t believe you are actually taking a lunch break,” James says, shaking his head.

Kara pouts. “Hey! I always take a lunch break!” She is met with three skeptical looks.

“I always eat lunch! I just usually stay in the building…and keep working while I eat,” she concedes.

“I just can’t believe Cat let you leave the office, much less _made_ you leave the office,” Winn says. “I mean, it’s almost the end of the quarter, and she has about a million meetings coming up. Usually she has you running around non-stop for caffeine, groceries, and whatever else she doesn’t have time to do for herself.”

“Well it’s not like anyone is expecting the Q3 report to be anything but fantastic,” Lucy says casually. Everyone looks up from their menus. “I mean, come on. This whole Supergirl thing has put advertising revenue through the roof. Plus the fact that anytime another media outlet wants to use our exclusive footage or publish one of James’s pictures, they have to pay a licensing fee.”

“Really?” Kara asks.

“Oh hell yeah. I’ve been the one that has to approve the contracts,” Lucy answers. “Supergirl’s mysterious attachment to CatCo isn’t just helping out the Tribune. The whole corporation is getting a boost. And Cat Grant is the genius who has somehow managed to brand her, get an interview, proceed to insult her publically, and still maintain an exclusive relationship with her.” Lucy smirks. “It’s almost as though Supergirl has some sort of a reason to be willing to put up with that sort of treatment.”

James clears his throat awkwardly. “Hmmm. Interesting theory. Anyway…how was the rest of your morning Kara? Were those prints okay for the spread?”

Kara has to bring back her focus from the tray of food passing by their table. “Hmm? The prints? Oh yeah, they were great. I’ll give you the three I picked out when we get back.”

“The three you picked out?” Winn asks incredulously.

“I mean, Cat picked them out, I just sorted them, really,” Kara says nervously. “It’s just, James sent a lot of options, and she doesn’t really like having to sort through all those photos, so I organized them a little. You know, showed her which three I thought worked best for what she asked for, not big deal.” Kara doesn’t know why James and Winn are looking at her like she just told them she also has the power to grow a second head.

Lucy shrugs. “I don’t know why you two are acting like Cat never trusts Kara to do things for her. I mean, come on, it’s not like picking out a couple pictures is anything compared to taking a meeting with Lisa fucking Bryson, the only person who can come close to out-glaring Cat. I mean, one time I had to tell her that legal needed another few hours to vet a story before she published, and I almost wet myself.”

“But she is so nice!” Kara exclaims.

Lucy just raises an eyebrow and continues, “and she lets Kara make last minute editorial decisions for the Tribune _and_ the Weekly. I mean honestly you guys, Kara isn’t just some secretary or something.”

Kara looks at James who is nodding at Lucy, acknowledging her point, while Winn still looks confused. She doesn’t blame him. Lucy is taking a few instances of covering for Cat way out of context.

“Don’t get me wrong, Lucy, I appreciate the sentiment, but it really isn’t that big of a deal. I mean, Cat was a little late _one_ time, so I did some of the legwork for her so she wouldn’t be stressed out. And she asked me to take _one_ meeting for her so she could do some other work. It was no big deal; I only had to ask Lisa to make a few minor adjustments, which she and Cat were totally fine with.”

Lucy’s jaw drops. “You asked Lisa fucking Bryson to make ‘a few minor adjustments’ and you lived to tell the tale?”

Kara looks to the others for help. They are looking at her like she has actually used her non-existent power and her second head just informed them that she has been lying to them.

“Come on you guys! It’s no big deal! Sure, Cat has been a little nicer to me lately, and maybe I haven’t been doing as many personal errands for her lately, and maybe she gave me an outright compliment today, but it’s like Lucy said. Cat just isn’t as stressed because CatCo is doing well. That’s all it is.”

“I guess she probably feels bad about almost firing you, too,” Winn mumbles.

Kara shoots a glare at Winn before glancing at Lucy, hoping she hadn’t heard him.

“She almost fired you? Why?”

“Oh, um…nothing really. It was kind of silly, which is why we were _supposed_ to not mention it to anyone.” Kara looks at Lucy, hoping she will accept her vague answer and move on. Lucy just nods at her to keep going.

Kara sighs and continues. “It was nothing, really. Cat just got it in her head that I was Supergirl, and then she threatened to fire me if I couldn’t disprove her theory.” Kara looks toward the kitchen, willing the waiter to come with their food so this conversation would be over. No such luck.

“That’s crazy! So how did you manage to trick her? Did you use one of the DEO’s holograms machines or what?” Lucy says excitedly.

“What? No! I’m not Super---What is the DE--U? Uhh..” Kara stammers and glares at James, sure he has told Lucy her secret.

Lucy just laughs. “Come on, Kara! I thought you knew that I knew! I mean, not that your disguise isn’t awesome and _suuuuper_ tricky, what with the glasses and up-do, but I worked with you at the DEO and my dad is an asshole. Of course he read me in. Probably thought it would get in between me and James or something…”

The waiter approaches the table with a huge tray, and they all fall silent. Once they each have their plate (or in Kara’s case, plates), Lucy continues talking.

“I mean it’s no big deal. I know things about the government that are waaaay more classified than your identity.” She shrugs and pops a French fry in her mouth. “But back to the main thing. How did you trick Cat? And why would she fire you for being a fucking superhero anyway?”

James and Winn are both shaken out of their stupors at this question, finally looking away from Lucy to focus on Kara. _Shit. I never really gave them a straight answer either._

“Oh, um, the hologram thing. Yup! You hit the nail right on the head, Lucy. I definitely used the hologram machine,” Kara says nervously. “And Cat didn’t want me wasting time working at CatCo when people needed help. She was really torn up about it, actually.”

Lucy looks at her pensively before taking a bite of her hamburger. Kara breathes out in relief, hoping to finally change the topic of conversation away from her. Lucy looks back up with a gleam in her eye. _Shit._

“So you are telling me, that Cat Grant thought you were a superhero and instead of trying to use your identity for her own gain, she was only worried about how spending time being her assistant affected _you._ ” Lucy says, clearly leading somewhere, but Kara has no idea where.

“Well, it was really more about the safety of the city, not me…”

“But she thought you were badass enough to be a superhero. And hot enough to be Supergirl, and we all know that Cat has a thing for Supergirl.” Lucy looks around the table at the blank stares she is getting.

“Come on, she keeps a giant picture of Supergirl in her office!”

Kara interrupts her. “Of course she keeps picture of Supergirl in her office! She named her, it’s just like her TVs; she wants to show off that she branded National City’s own superhero.”

“So she shows off Supergirl by having the picture face her desk instead of the door?” Lucy mutters skeptically.

Kara ignores her and continues, “besides the fact that Ms. Grant isn’t even gay!”

“That’s not what I heard from Lois,” Lucy says with a chuckle. “I’m just saying that even if she bought that you aren’t Supergirl, she still thought you _could_ be. Maybe she is treating you differently because some of that crush –or _professional admiration_ –“ she sarcastically corrects herself with a glare from Kara, “Anyway, some of it might have transferred to you.” Lucy raises her eyebrows at Kara suggestively.

“Pshhh! That is just…ridiculous! I mean, come on! Even if Cat _is_ interested in women, which she isn’t, there is no way she would be interested in me!” Kara looks at Lucy in disbelief. “She is the Queen of All Media! Have you seen her legs? She can have anyone she wants! Hell, she had John Stamos! She would _not_ be interested in her assistant.” Kara tries to hide the fact that her cheeks are bright red by taking a huge bite out of her second cheeseburger.

“It’s not like it matters one way or another, right Kara?” Winn asks. “You aren’t even gay, you told me.”

Kara shrugs and struggles to swallow her food before she answers. “I’m _not_ gay.” Winn looks a little relieved, but she continues. “I wouldn’t really label myself the way people on Earth do. On Krypton, you found a partner based on physical and emotional compatibility, not based on who had the right bits for reproduction. I thought I had told you guys about the reproduction program? Anyway, I don’t think about gender as a factor for attraction. I’ve heard some people on Earth call it pansexuality?”

James just nods and keeps eating. Winn once again looks confused. Lucy is practically bouncing with excitement.

“So, what you are saying is that you are totally attracted to Cat, but you don’t think she sees you that way?” Lucy asks, trying and failing to stifle her grin.

Kara blushes an even brighter shade of red. “No! I mean –it’s Cat Grant! Of course I think she is attractive, have you seen her? And yes, I do tend to be attracted to people with a certain level of intelligence, but that doesn’t mean–“

“It’s okay, Kara,” Lucy interrupts in a reassuring tone. “I understand completely.”

Kara does not feel reassured.

* * *

 

Cat finished her lunch in exactly 25 minutes. She wasn’t one to waste time, and lunch was no exception. There is no reason to waste time savoring a lettuce wrap when she needs to be preparing for a meeting with her CFO. As she thumbs through the various expense reports from the Beijing office, she finds herself distracted. _Why can’t I get that damn song out of my head?_

She stands up and pours herself a glass of M&M’s. She settles back in with her reports, but five minutes later she throws them down with a sigh. _Maybe if I just listen to it, I can concentrate._

She pulls out her phone and hesitates before grabbing her earbuds out of her purse as well. Just because she told Kara to take a proper lunch break doesn’t mean she will actually follow instructions.

Cat presses play on the video and listens to the instrumental introduction as though she hasn’t already memorized it. She hasn’t watched the video _that_ many times. Just once on Friday night when she loaded it onto her computer, and then one more time on the TV in her office because the speakers on her computer were really horrible. She really only half-listened to it when she was loading it onto her phone Saturday night (for safe keeping of course), and she watched it once on Sunday just to make sure it had loaded properly. She didn’t want to return the flash drive to Nick without making sure she had a backup. For her research.

Cat listens to the horrible MIDI strings sound that is coming out of the keyboard. Kara really deserves a live string quartet.

_I see everybody staring-at you and the clothes that you're wearing-_   
_it seems like nothing's every good enough._   
_I hear everybody saying-that you are never gonna fit in,_   
_it's like nothing's ever good enough._

Cat feels a familiar pang of guilt after the first verse. She flashes back to the day before the video was filmed, the look on Kara’s face when she was begging for her job. The lost look in her eyes is visible even on the phone’s tiny screen. Kara’s eyes harden as she sings the lead-up to the chorus, glancing over at the drummer who is matching her perfectly on the snare, building the tension perfectly.

_When you're lost and can't be found,_   
_just lift your head and stand your ground._   
_It's always dark before the dawn,_   
_so raise your voice and sing this song..._

Cat closes her eyes, preparing for the onslaught of guilt that always comes with the chorus.

_You can tell me what's right, you can say that I'm wrong,_   
_you can tell me I'm weak, so you can think that you're strong,_   
_but you can't take my soul or the gifts I've been given I'mma_   
_Go down, go down, go down singing._

The look in Kara’s eyes at this moment has been haunting Cat all weekend; the determination, the fight for what she deserves and the pain of having it almost taken away.

_I know just how you're feeling - locked up, inside you're screaming._  
 _It's like no one ever hears a sound._  
 _I've been hurt in the same way, but trust tomorrow is a new day._  
 _You've got everything you need inside._    


The chorus is building again, and Cat finds herself distracted by the way Kara is gripping the microphone like a lifeline. She has taken off her standard cardigan and her sundress leaves her arms bare. How does she get her biceps to look like that?  
  
_You can build yourself up when you're putting me down,_  
 _you can think you're a queen, cause you've taken my crown,_

(Cat knows for a fact that the original version of this song mentions a king not a queen)  
_but you can't stop the fight for the life that I'm living I'mma,_  
 _Go down, go down, go down singing._  


The man on the keyboard and the woman on the drums start to back up Kara on vocals, and Cat can’t help but smile at the surprised look on Kara’s face and the infectious grin she sends toward the band. _  
_

_Eyes on me._   
_Wait and see._   
_They don't know what's about to begin._

For a moment, everyone’s eyes have actually left Kara. The drummer, who seems to be taking her audition quite seriously, is moving so fast the camera’s resolution can barely keep up. She is perfectly imitating the original track, but instead of using a mixing board, she is using a standard drum set. Cat really hopes Nick’s husband decided to keep this drummer around.

  
_Standing proud._  
 _Face the crowd._  
 _All I know is how bright I'm shining._  
 _I'll be free, lose or win._  
 _I'm gonna go down singIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!_

The audience had been fairly subdued up to this point, probably trying to figure out if they came on the wrong night for open-mic, since this woman was clearly a professional. At Kara’s final belt, however, they go wild. The drummer is still a blur, and Kara is lost in the music. As the music slows, the crowd grows still. Kara holds the mic with both hands, and her voice floats above the stunned crowd.  
  
_When you're lost and can't be found,_  
 _just raise your voice and sing this song._

There is complete silence as the music swells and then fades out. Cat doesn’t think anyone breathes until Kara takes a step back from the microphone, at which point Cat has to quickly take out her earbuds so she isn’t deafened by the applause. She keeps watching as Kara gives a quick nod to the crowd, and then walks over to speak to the band. Cat can barely see it on her phone, but she knows that Kara smiles and says something to the drummer and then laughs nervously at something the man at the keyboard says. Cat wonders if that is Nick’s husband. Kara exits the stage quickly, and Cat stops the video once she leaves the frame.

She leans back in her chair, slowly wrapping her headphones and putting them back in her purse. Every time she watched the video, it got harder and harder not to spend the next hour thinking about Kara; the way she sounded so hurt, the way her confidence grew throughout the song, the way her arms flexed as she lost herself in the music…

She shakes head, trying to banish thoughts of her perfectly sculpted assistant out of her head. The point of this whole exercise was to make herself less distracted, not more.

She looks at the stack of reports she still needs to look over in the next hour and reaches for more M&M’s.

* * *

 

Kara returns from lunch fifteen minutes early. She would have been there sooner, but she had to make a quick detour to help a trapped motorist who had run off the road. When Cat’s office comes into view, she knows she is in trouble. Cat has a glass full of M&M’s on her desk. The empty bag, which had been full last week, is sitting in the trashcan. Cat never has more than half of a glass during lunch, and that is when she is stressed or distracted. She never has a full glass when her employees can see her, and from the looks of it, this is not her first.

Kara rushes to her desk to put down her things before she grabs her notebook and tentatively knocks on her boss’s door.

“Hi, Ms. Grant. Did you have a good lunch? Is there anything I can do for you?” Kara asks cautiously, not sure if she wants to hear the answer.

“Yes, it was fine,” Cat answers breezily. “Why are you acting like a bomb is about to go off?”

“Um…” Kara glances at the candy on her boss’s desk. “No reason. Is there anything you want me to do before your meeting with Ms. Castillo?”

“No, I believe I have everything I need. Just make sure you are on hand in case I need you during the meeting.” Cat barely looks up from the stack of papers in front of her.

“Absolutely, Ms. Grant. Just let me know.” Kara exhales in relief as she turns to head back to her desk.

“Kiera! I almost forgot something,” Cat calls after her. Kara stops in her tracks and turns to face her boss. “I will need to see you in my office after Jackie leaves. I have something I need to discuss with you.”

“Of course Ms. Grant. I’ll see you then.”

Kara walks back to her desk; trying to remember everything she could have done wrong in the past two hours. Although Cat could have just found out about something she did a long time ago, so she expands her search to think of anything she has done wrong in the past two years. She has gotten through her first six months at CatCo when she sees Jackie Castillo leaving Cat’s office. _Shit._

Kara stands up and walks toward the office, debating whether she should start by apologizing for the time she showed up late last August or if should go in guns blazing with an apology for switching the place where she got Cat’s morning latte. It wasn’t her fault that it had gone out of business 5 months ago! Luckily, she had made friends with the barista at Starbucks and he agreed to make Cat’s latte in the cups Kara brought in. She had bought all of the old coffee shop’s stock, and she still had two boxes of cups stashed in her apartment.

Kara decides to ease Cat into the news that she has been drinking a ‘corporate crappuccino’ for the past 5 months. Maybe Cat will fire her for some other reason that has nothing to do with coffee, and she will never need to know. She straightens her glasses and heads into the office.

Cat looks up from the couch and gestures for Kara to join her, marking a few last notes on a report from the Europe desk.

“So…you wanted to talk to me about something, Ms. Grant?”

Cat puts her index finger up, asking for ‘one second,’ without taking her eyes off what she is doing.

Kara straightens the hem of her dress and then places her hands carefully in her lap, trying to resist any more nervous fidgeting.

Cat finally puts the report down, and looks up at Kara.

“Why do you look like a puppy who just ate a pair of Jimmy Choo’s?”

Any plan Kara had to be completely honest went out the window, along with her confidence, the moment she saw Cat look at her over her glasses. She just sits there, with her mouth slightly open, trying to remember her five-step plan to ease Cat into The Great Latte Lie.

“Whatever it is, deal with it later. I have another meeting in ten minutes, and we need to discuss the plans for the CatCo Halloween party next month.” Cat reaches for a piece of paper she has on the table. “Here is a list of all of the vendors which have been suggested by the event planner. Her contact information is at the top. She is handling everything, but I would like for you to have all of the details just in case something happens.”

Kara takes the list and exhales in relief. _Maybe I will actually get out of this meeting with my dignity and job intact._

“But that isn’t the main reason I needed to talk with you this afternoon.” Cat looks at her intently.

_Nevermind._

Cat continues, “I had an idea to make the party a little more special this year. As you know, a number of National City’s A-list celebrities attend our little shindig, although they are really more like A-minus celebrities… and you know how they like to show off. I would like you to be in charge of setting up a Karaoke competition of sorts. Halloween themed or something like that. Those people on the internet love a poorly filmed cell phone video of their favorite supporting actor showing off their Broadway chops _._ ” Cat says with derision.

“If I remember correctly from my research into that…other matter, you were quite the singer, were you not?” Cat asks.

“You found out about that?” Kara asks in surprise. “It wasn’t really that much, I was just part of the stage crew for the musicals and sang in the choir. I wasn’t anything special.”

“That is not the impression I got from your teacher, Ms. Smith I think? She says hi, by the way. My point is that you worked tech for the musicals, correct?”

Kara nods, not knowing where this is going.

“Anyway, I thought I could put you in charge of arranging the competition. You will need to make sure the stage prominently features CatCo’s logo so any viral videos will be branded. I trust that with your experience, you will be able to acquire the appropriate sound equipment and whatnot?”

“Of course!” Kara says in relief. She thought that Cat was going to ask her to do something ridiculous, like sing. “Should I go ahead and contact the agents of the people on the guest list so they can prepare something?”

“I think that would be best. God only knows how long it will take them to prepare something well enough that it will seem spontaneous to the masses,” Cat says cynically.

Kara stands up to leave, and almost makes it out the door before she hears a lazy, “Oh, and Kiera?”

She knew it was too easy.

"We want to make this thing seem casual. This is a party for employees and their guests, too. Make sure you find some CatCo employees or their guests or something that will plan to do something. And you should plan to perform as well. CatCo needs at least _one_ slightly competent person to represent us. Not just that Winifred or someone..."

"Oh Ms. Grant, I don't really sing in public anymore. You can ask Ms. Schmidt, I never did solos or anything. I really don't think that is the best ide–"

"That is all Kiera. You can send in my 3:00 now. And don't forget to come in at 3:10 with some urgent matter that needs my immediate attention. I will need to leave by 3:20 to pick up Carter," Cat says with a raised brow.

"Yes, Ms. Grant."


	5. Thursday, October 1st

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Kara has a shitty week. And she processes it through song. Because that is how she rolls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the comments and kudos. Y'all have no idea how much it means to me. And thanks to my beta yellow-nova for all the help and the willingness to edit a chapter that ended up hitting 6k words. I should really stop doing these things to you.

Kara walks into McHale’s on Thursday ready to sing. Her week had not been going well, to say the least. Finding out that she had to sing at the Halloween party was just the tip of the iceberg.

* * *

She had left Cat’s office on Monday in shock. She couldn’t identify the source of the churning in her stomach. It wasn’t nervousness since she could lift buildings with the whole world watching. It definitely wasn’t excitement, because embarrassing herself in front of all of her coworkers wasn’t her idea of fun. By the time her feet brought her to James’s office, however, she finally figured out what emotion she was feeling.

“I need to punch something. Right now.”

James and Lucy looked up in stunned silence; whatever they were looking at on his computer was immediately forgotten.

“Do you maybe want to talk about it?” James asked hesitantly, moving toward her as though he was approaching a wild animal.

“Nope. I just want to punch things,” Kara snapped. “Lucy, do you want to go punch things with me, since Jimmy _clearly_ isn’t in the mood?”

“Hell yeah!” Lucy jumped up from the desk. “Nothing makes me want to punch things more than planning a wedding!”

Kara turned to leave before she stopped short. Lucy felt like she had just run into a brick wall.

“Shit, Kara! A little warning next time,” Lucy grumbled, rubbing her shoulder, which had absorbed the brunt of the collision.

“Oh Gosh! I’m so sorry Lucy! I just remembered that I have to get Cat out of a meeting in—“ Kara checked her watch, “—seven minutes,” she finished with a groan.

“I guess that means we have six minutes for _my_ plan then,” James responded cheekily.

Kara sighed, blowing several carefully arranged photos to the other side of the office.

“Sorry, James,” she said, sheepishly looking at the now barren table. “And sorry about calling you Jimmy…it’s just…Cat makes me so damn mad!” Kara finally ground out.

“I mean, where do these things even come from?” Kara started gaining steam. “I thought she was finally starting to respect me—finally starting to treat me like a real person! But then she just goes right back to the usual crap. I mean, she won’t even admit that the reason she knows I can sing is because of her ridiculous research that she was proven _completely_ wrong about anyway!” Kara finished in a huff.

“Other than the fact that she was completely _right_ about you being her favorite superhero?” Lucy asked. “But more importantly, what the hell are you talking about? And you sing?!?”

“She doesn’t _know_ that she was right though,” Kara says rolling her eyes. “She's just mad that she was wrong.” Kara gasped, the realization hitting her. “She is embarrassed! She just wants to get back at me for making her look like an idiot! That’s why she cooked up this whole karaoke competition for the Halloween party in the first place! She just wants me to squirm like she had to!”

“I really don’t think Cat would–“ James started, before Lucy cut him off.

“But you can sing? How did I not know this?”

Kara waved her hand. “A bit, I mean I did high school choir. It’s not a big deal.”

“Kara, you only have four more minutes,” James reminded, “So can I just make sure I have this whole thing straight?”

Kara nodded silently.

“There is going to be a karaoke competition at the Halloween party.” Kara nodded.

“Cat wants you to sing in the aforementioned competition.” Kara nodded again, opening her mouth to start ranting again, but James continues.

“You know how to sing, a fact which Lucy is shocked she doesn’t know about you, even though she hasn’t even known you for _that_ long.”

“Hey!” Lucy hit him lightly on the shoulder. “It didn’t even show up in the top secret file, so _exuuuuse me_ if I’m a little surprised.”

James just raised his eyebrows and looked back to Kara. “I don’t feel like you are especially nervous about this whole thing, right?”

“Not really, but—“

He cut her off. “I just don’t really see what the problem is.”

“Of course you don’t, James.” Lucy said dismissively. “Clearly, Cat is expressing her frustration and embarrassment—“

“Exactly!” Kara interjected.

“—at being hopelessly in love with Kara, and is trying to make Kara just as embarrassed.” Lucy finished with a flourish.

“Wait…no, that wasn’t what I was—“

Lucy grinned evilly and just kept talking. “Obviously, she isn’t going to manage to embarrass you, however hilarious it is that she is trying.”

“She isn’t?” Kara asked hopefully. This is why she liked Lucy. She probably knew some sort of law that kept bosses from forcing their employees to compete in live singing competitions. This planet makes all sorts of weirdly specific laws; there probably is at least one about karaoke.

“Of course she isn’t,” Lucy responds. “Because I am going to help you put together the most kickass performance that has ever graced National City.”

“Or you could just talk to Cat for me?” she asked hopefully.

“Nah, this is way better,” Lucy said quickly. “I already have about twenty ideas for songs. We are going to need to start working this weekend if we want this to happen. I’ve got to start thinking about costumes, too…”

“Wait, you are going to sing with me?” Kara asked incredulously.

James and Lucy burst out laughing.

“Trust me, you do _not_ want to hear her sing,” he said, still chuckling.

“I’m not that bad!” Lucy retorted. The look in his eyes made her acquiesce. “Ok, I _am_ that bad. But I’m talking about choreography. You can’t seduce a woman like Cat Grant without decent choreography.”

“I’m pretty sure that dancing isn’t really a thing for Karaoke. And I’m not trying to seduce my boss!”

“Of course you aren’t, Kara.” Lucy said. “I’m seducing her for you. Anyway, I’ll text you before I head over to your place this weekend. Make sure you move your couch out of the way so we can get started on the blocking.”

“I never agreed to—“

“Don’t you have to do something for Cat right now?” Lucy interrupts.

Kara had run out of the office, not having time to argue with her new stage mom.

* * *

Kara had felt a little better after talking to James and Lucy, which surprised her. Unfortunately, her week headed downhill quickly after that.

She spent Tuesday morning in a board meeting with Cat, fetching coffee for men who paid more attention to the fit of her maroon pants than the software development company Cat wanted to purchase. The company already produced two of the most popular news apps across platforms, but Cat had her eye on the gesture based controls they were starting to test.

“The purchase would pay for itself with the advertising revenue from their apps and the opportunity to use their software to improve the various apps produced by CatCo. The real value lies in their work that is still in the pipeline. My technology consultant has looked over their patents, and he thinks we can use them to be on the cutting edge in providing content for the smart TV market. He says they are light-years ahead of the competition in gesture control, and we could even license our technology to other companies. We could make buttons obsolete for media consumption in the home.”

While Cat was talking, Kara handed out the brief she had prepared about the company, trying to avoid making eye contact with one of the board members that was openly leering at her. When she placed the folder in front of him, he had looked pointedly at her chest and muttered, “Well I know I would love to make buttons obsolete in this office.”

Kara pretended she hadn’t heard him and finished passing out the folders. She had moved to stand behind Cat who was still speaking, moving on from the software to discuss the financials of the possible acquisition.

After a moment, Cat dismissed her. She said something about how she needed Kara to prepare some talking points for the CEO’s interview that evening on one of the financial channels. Kara had already given them to her that morning, but Cat gave her a pointed look, so she headed back to her desk without a word. She wasn’t going to argue with a reason to avoid all of the wandering eyes.

Kara didn’t hear Cat’s voice change as soon as the door closed. She didn’t hear how Cat’s voice became quiet, how she enunciated each word carefully as though she had to use every ounce of restraint in her body to stay calm. Kara didn’t notice the complete and total silence coming from the room after Cat delivered her final verbal blow.

Instead, she noticed the crowd of people watching TV through the glass walls of Cat’s office. It looked as though there was some sort of car chase, and the local CatCo affiliate was showing live coverage from the helicopter. The white pickup truck was weaving in and out of traffic on the freeway; three police cruisers in pursuit.

There was a collective gasp when the pickup made a sharp turn onto the ramp headed toward the bridge. Several cars had to swerve to avoid getting hit by the truck, which only led to a massive pileup blocking the entrance to the bridge. The three cruisers screeched to a halt, barely missing the collision themselves.

The pickup never regained control after its quick turn. The driver overcorrected, and the truck went careening toward a yellow school bus. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the pickup clipped the back of the bus before it headed over the edge of the bridge. The bus fishtailed toward the median, flipping twice then landing on its side.

Kara was in the stairwell, changing into her suit before her coworkers could process what they had just seen. She broke the sound barrier getting to the bridge, but when she arrived at the scene, she had to slow down to triage.

The pileup at the bridge entrance looked worse than it was. Kara couldn’t hear anyone who was in severe distress, only panicked voices and elevated heart rates. She turned her attention to the school bus. She had moved quickly to figure out a way to evacuate the kids, but she could only get in through the emergency exit in the back. She didn’t want to risk moving the bus, which would most likely make any injuries worse.

She opened the back door and saw about thirty children, all in matching lime green shirts, scattered throughout the bus. Kara moved quickly and efficiently, checking each child for spinal injuries before she lifted them. She brought them to the other side of the blockage, leaving them in the care of the police officers until the ambulances began to arrive.

The work was slow, but Kara had gradually made it to the front of the bus. There were only three people left on the bus: the driver, the teacher, and one last student. The bus driver was the only one wearing a seatbelt, so he hadn’t been tossed from his seat like the passengers. Kara quickly freed him, ripping open the jammed seatbelt buckle. He made his way to the back of the bus, and Kara turned to focus on the final two passengers.

Both had gotten trapped under a seat that had jarred loose on impact. Kara quickly lifted the seat and moved it aside to assess the situation. The teacher told her to take the child first.

“Please, Supergirl. He can’t feel his legs,” she pleaded. “I’m fine, just a little banged up. I can wait for a few minutes. Just get him to National City Memorial.”

Kara used her x-ray vision to examine the boy, and even without medical training she could see that something was wrong with his lower spine. She needed to find some way to keep him immobile before she could get him out of the bus.

She looked around for any sort of flat board and all she could find were bus seats. She separated the backs from two of the seats and stripped away the cushions on the ends. She told the teacher to close her eyes and to shield the boy’s before she used her heat vision to weld the two seat backs together. She then cooled the metal with her breath, trying not to cool it too quickly.

She ripped the seatbelt out of the driver’s seat, and then crouched next to the boy.

“How you doing, bud?” Kara asked softly.

“I-I’m okay,” he said shakily. His breathing was shallow and rapid, his eyes glazed.

“Good, great! Can you keep talking to me while I get you settled on this nifty board I made for you?” Kara placed the board right next to him, lining it up as close as she could without moving either passenger. “How about we start with your name?”

“My name? Uh…it’s um…James.”

“Really? That’s one of my friend’s names!” Kara exclaimed, trying to keep the boy’s focus as she carefully lifted him onto the board. “He is actually one of my cousin’s best friends too. You’ve probably heard of my cousin...”

“Superman? He really _is_ your cousin?”

“Yup!” She smiled at him, holding his focus as she wrapped the seatbelt straps around him, tying him to the board. “So where were you all headed on your field trip?”

“We were uh…” His eyes began to close, and Kara could hear his heat rate becoming irregular. She gave one last look toward his teacher, who nodded at her to leave.

“James? I need you to keep talking to me. Why don’t you tell me about your field trip?” Kara floated through the back of the bus, and checked both sides of the bridge for an ambulance for the boy. The traffic had built up in both directions, and the few ambulances that had made it close to the bridge were already being loaded with injured students.

“James? Where were you guys going for your trip?” Kara repeated her question, looking down at him anxiously.

“We…were going to the zoo,” he said faintly. “Miss Hernandez wanted us to see the baby giraffe. It-it is supposed to be endangered or something?”

“Wow! That is so cool!” Kara was flying toward the hospital as quick as she could, but she had to keep the makeshift stretcher level and avoid any turbulence. She felt like she was barely moving. She tried to remember anything she knew to help keep James conscious. “Do you remember what type of giraffe it is?”

“I don’t—I don’t remember. I think it started with an R?”

“Was it a Rothschild giraffe? Because those are super rare!” Kara saw the hospital in the distance. “I think there are only, like, 700 left in the wild!”

“Yeah! That’s what it was! Miss Hernandez said it was a really big deal because it was a purebred one.” James was actually getting a little excited. “And the vet at the zoo was going to talk to us about how she takes care of all the animals, too!”

“That is so cool!” Kara was finally near enough to the hospital to see the entrance to the emergency department. She started her decent and saw that there were several doctors waiting with a gurney outside the doors. She thanked Rao that someone had called ahead of her.

Kara landed as smoothly as possible and placed James on the gurney. The doctors and nurses surrounded him, working as they moved him swiftly through the hospital doors. Kara took off toward the bridge to evacuate the final passenger.

“Ready to go, Miss Hernandez? I know there are some kids out there who want to see you!” Kara was met with silence. All she heard was a faint heartbeat, barely audible, and so very slow.

Kara flew her as fast as possible to the emergency department. Her x-ray vision showed that the young teacher had massive internal injuries, if the amount of internal bleeding was any indicator. She had handed the woman over to the doctors, giving them whatever information she could, but she knew from the looks on their faces that it didn’t look good.

She did the cleanup for the accident on autopilot. None of the other children needed to be flown to the hospital, so she worked to clear the bridge. A few drivers were trapped in their cars, so she helped the fire department get them out.

Kara then went to retrieve the pickup truck that had set off the whole chain of events. The truck had sunk to the bottom of the bay; but Kara had merely needed a deep breath and a burst of speed as she dove from midair to reach the truck.

She approached the driver’s side and saw that the man must have died when the truck hit the water. She pulled the truck to the surface using the trailer hitch and dragged it toward the shore.

Kara stomach churned with guilt. She knew that the man must have died on impact, the water might as well have been concrete from that height, but a part of her wondered what would have happened if she had retrieved the truck first. The other part of her, however, was enraged that this man had put all of those children at risk. It was that part of her that hadn’t spared a thought to the man until after the bus was evacuated. It was that part of her that made her sick.

She checked in with the fire department to see if they needed her help with anything else. She helped move a few more damaged cars to the shoulder of the road and then headed back to CatCo, picking up Cat’s lunch on the way.

Kara had come back into the office to find that much of the crowd had started to disperse. Cat was in her office, coordinating the live television and radio coverage of the situation. The leading story was about a bright young teacher that had died from her injuries.

* * *

The headline of the Tribune on Wednesday was “Car Chase Leaves 2 Dead, 32 Students Injured.” An aerial shot of the accident scene on the bridge was above the fold. Below the fold was a touching memorial of Carla Hernandez, only in her third year of teaching. There were quotes from the parents of her current and former students, her principal, her college friends. Her parents asked for donations to be made to the public library in lieu of flowers.

Kara went through the day trying to avoid the constant coverage. The local stations were camped outside the elementary school, apparently every fragment of new information had to be delivered with a backdrop of an empty playground.

She went about the day mechanically, dulling her senses so she wouldn’t have to listen to what seemed like the thousandth interview with someone who had been touched the young teacher. Kara delivered Cat’s lettuce wrap as quickly as possible before she headed to the junkyard for her lunch break. Kara didn’t hear the story CatCo’s local affiliate was running: one of the children in the crash had narrowly avoided paralysis. His parents were smiling and crying on one of the televisions behind Cat.

Kara didn’t get to spend as long as she wanted in the warehouse by the junkyard. Her punching bag was more of a ball of shredded metal than a car, and she had to wait for her next paycheck before she could get a new one.

She managed to get through the rest of the day by running errands throughout the building. She spent as little time as possible being bombarded by the constant coverage from Cat’s walls.

She had just managed to get to sleep when she got a call from Alex. Astra was doing something ridiculous that needlessly endangered people’s lives. Kara didn’t bother to listen to all the details; just that it somehow involved a bomb threat, playing chicken with airplanes, and shooting cans off a barbed wire fence with her heat vision. Apparently she wanted to have a chat with her niece.

Kara didn’t want to listen to yet another pitch to switch sides, to hear about how she was wrong about everything in her life and how there was no reason to be loyal to humanity.

She didn’t want to hear about how nothing she was doing mattered in the grand scheme of things. She didn’t want to hear about how sometimes sacrifices had to be made for the greater good; how collateral damage was to be expected, but can one or two lives really matter when the survival of the planet is at stake?

Kara was tired. She was tired of arguing, tired of justifying her attachment to humanity, tired of arguing that she made the right choices when she wasn’t even sure if she had. She was tired of Astra acting as though she needed to be reminded of her family and her planet, as though her sunny exterior meant that she didn’t feel that pain every single day.

She wanted to ask her aunt why she didn’t think about how she felt when her sister died, and why she didn’t think about whether or not her _collateral damage_ had any sisters. Whether or not they left behind children who would feel that pain whenever they saw familiar features in the mirror.

She wanted to tell Astra how it felt to save someone’s life, to know that a family was kept from feeling the pain she felt. She wanted to tell her aunt how much it hurt when she failed, and how much it hurt that she couldn’t tell anyone. But Kara was tired, and she didn’t want to have another futile argument with the woman who used to be one of her closest confidants.

So she had stalled, waiting for Alex to show up with the cavalry. She distracted her aunt, who was too busy dodging Kara’s attacks to notice the DEO arrive with a full complement of Kryptonite weapons. Her aunt was soon trapped under a Kryptonite laced net, handcuffed, and transported back to her cell at the DEO.

Kara hadn’t gotten home until the early hours of the morning. She had collapsed in bed, trying to get at least a couple hours of sleep before she had to face another day of work.

* * *

 

**Thursday**

Kara makes her way toward the band, hoping she could catch the bandleader before they started warming up. He spots her and she sees his beard twitch with a smile.

“You’re back!” He places the acoustic guitar he was tuning on its stand and rises to greet her.

“Yup! I just wanted to check and see if you knew the song I was hoping to do tonight, then I’ll go get out of these work clothes.” Kara tugged at the hem of her polka dot dress. “I didn’t have a chance to change before I left work.”

“No problem! What were you thinking?” He waves at the drummer as she comes in through the back exit.

“Do you know any Brandi Carlile?” Kara asks hopefully.

“Do I know any Brandi Carlile?” He scoffs. “Of course I know Brandi Carlile! Which album do you want to sing from? I think we have everything we would need to do her earlier stuff, but if you really want to do something from The Firewatcher’s Daughter, I could probably scrounge up the right equipment...”

“I was thinking _My Song_? If that doesn’t work, I can think of something else…”

“Dude! I love that one!” The corners of his eyes crinkle, and Kara can’t help but think he looks like a very fuzzy teddy bear. “I’ll check with Michaela and Kadeem, but I’m sure it will be totally chill. Why don’t you head back to change?”

Kara breathes out in relief. “Thank you so much!” She heads toward the ladies room, where a line has already started to build up.

He notices the line, and tosses her a set of keys with a quick “Think fast!” He motions her toward the back room, and she gives him a grateful smile.

She leaves the room a few minutes later wearing a green flannel shirt and jeans. She had taken her hair out of its bun, but left it tied back in a ponytail.

“You look a bit more comfortable,” the bandleader says when she gives him back his keys.

“Oh my gosh, I feel so much better all ready,” Kara says. “Thanks for letting me use that room, um…I just realized I still don’t know your name. I’m so sorry.”

“Matt Strickland, pleasure to meet you,” he says with a wink. “Although now I feel like I should get to know your name too, unless your name really is just the letter K…”

She laughs. “Sorry about that. I work really close by, and I didn’t want my name being shouted out over a speaker. My name is Kara.”

“Well I promise I won’t out you to all your coworkers. I can’t promise that I won’t work on giving you a stage name, however.” He wiggles his eyebrows, and Kara has a feeling that the name he picks is going to be unique to say the least.

All of a sudden, the drummer pops up behind Matt. “We’re picking out stage names? Awesome! Can I be Rolling Thunder? Or The Dynamic Dragon Drummer? Or—“

“How about just Michaela?” Matt interrupts.

“Well I guess that is pretty badass in itself.” She twirls a drumstick in her hand. “Anyway, the boss-man said it’s about time to start. I’m assuming Rosie the Ringer here is going to lead us off?”

Kara nods and moves to put the bag with her work clothes behind the stage. When she returns, Michaela is elbowing Matt in his side, jerking her head towards Kara.

“What’s up, you guys?”

Michaela rolls her eyes at Matt. “Well our fearless leader wanted to talk to you about something before we went on.”

“Right, um.” He clears his throat. “We were thinking, uh, that since you always come for open-mic, and since you are obviously on a whole different level from the usual singers we get…”

Michaela motions for him to hurry up.

He coughs again, and continues. “Hell, I mean, half the crowd comes to hear you sing anyway. Even the boss notices. So anyway, I talked it over with the band, and they were totally chill with it, so I thought I could give you my phone number? That way you don’t have to worry about us not knowing the song you want to sing?”

“Basically what Matt is saying, is that you are awesome and you bring a huge crowd,” Michaela interrupts. “We figured that if you know what song you want to sing before our Thursday afternoon practice, you can give us a heads up and we can learn it for you.”

“Really? Are you sure it wouldn’t be a problem? I don’t want you all to have to go out of the way for me.” Kara can’t decide whether she wants to hug them or cry.

Matt puts his hand on her shoulder. “Trust me, none of us mind, even a little.”

Kara decides she’ll hug them now and maybe cry later.

* * *

Cat slips into the bar as the band is getting settled on stage. Nick spots her and gestures toward the corner seat at the end of the bar. He finishes getting a tray full of drafts ready for a server and then heads over to see her, pocketing the flash drive she placed on the bar.

“Well you look like you are trying a new look,” he says, giving her a once over. “Did casual Friday get moved to Thursday?”

“Do you really think I would encourage my employees to dress even more casually than they already do?” Cat responds tartly. “I already have one department head who thinks shirt buttons serve no purpose. He would probably show up in a muscle shirt, and heaven only knows how much work my female, and male for that matter, employees would get done when they could be ogling his pectorals.”

He laughs. “Then I am assuming you have a reason for breaking out the blue jeans and hoodie?”

Cat rolls her eyes. “I would have thought that was obvious. I’m still doing my research. My sense of style is conspicuous to say the least, and I wouldn’t want to call attention to myself.”

“Ah yes. You wouldn’t want to mess up your _research_ project,” he says sarcastically. “What are you planning on doing with all of this research? Other than learn more about a certain hot blonde, I mean.”

Cat glares at him. “You are never going to let me live that down are you?”

“Nope! Especially if you don’t have a better reason for all of this research than our favorite bespectacled bombshell…” he trailed off leadingly.

Cat was saved from giving him an answer, one that she didn’t even know for herself, when Kara took the stage to a raucous round of applause.

The guitar begins to play, and Kara steps up to the mic. The drummer and bassist come in a few bars later, and Cat is happy to see it is the same drummer who had been auditioning on the video. She had probably been there last week too, but Cat hadn’t noticed much other than Kara last week.

As the band plays the intro, Kara looks like she is trying to find her usual energy. Cat has never seen her assistant look so exhausted. There isn’t a hint of a shadow under her eyes, and her skin is flawless as usual, but something in her eyes betrays her. Even from the bar, Cat can see that the usual sparkle in those beautiful blue eyes is absent.

 

Kara’s voice breaks slightly when she starts singing, and it takes her a moment to steady herself.

_Everything I do_

_Surrounds these pieces of my life_

_That often change_

_Or hey, maybe I've changed_  

Kara brief smile is a ghost of the one that normally lights up the room.

_Sometimes seeming happy_

_Can be self-destructive_

_Even when you're sane_

_You're only insane_

 

_But don't bother waking me today_

 

Kara’s voice is raw when she begins the chorus, the words coming from deep within her chest.

_Here I am_

_I'm so young_

_I know I've been bitter_

_I've been jaded_

_I'm alone_

_Everyday, I bite my tongue_

_If you only knew_

_My mind was full of razors_

_To cut you like a_

_Word if only sung_

_But this is my song_

_It is my song_

Nick silently placed a martini beside Cat, not daring to draw her focus away from the stage.

 

_I live everyday_

_Like they'll never be a last one_

_Till they're gone_

_And they're gone_

_I'm not too proud to beg for_

_Your attention and your friendship_

_And your time_

_So you could come and get it from now on_

 

After Kara finishes the verse and moves back into the chorus, Cat half-expects everyone in the bar to turn around to look at her _. Although they don’t know how I responded to my loyal assistant’s unswerving attempts at friendship by keeping her at arm’s length and invading her privacy multiple times…_ Cat blindly grabs for her drink as her orphaned assistant tells a room full of strangers that she is alone. That she is jaded. That she is hurting. _Information that she can’t trust me with, since I seem to use everything I know against her._

Cat is cut with every word, just as the lyrics warned her, but her guilt is making her feel rather masochistic. She deserves to have to sit here and listen to Kara describe all of her mentor’s failings to a live audience.

 

Kara seems to lose herself during the bridge, closing her eyes and just moving with the music. She lets the band build up for her final chorus.

_Here I am_

_I'm so young_

_I know I've been bitter_

_I've been jaded_

_I'm alone_

_Everyday, I bite my tongue_

_If you only knew_

_My mind was full of razors_

_I'm not sure I can take it_

_I've nothing strong to hold to_

_I'm way too old to hate you_

_My mind is full of razors_

_To cut you like a_

_Word if only sung_

_But this is my song_

Cat realizes that the look in Kara’s eyes isn’t just exhaustion—it is age. Her eyes betray how much the young woman has suffered, and she isn’t hiding behind a blinding smile anymore.

Kara just stands by the mic, moving with the music, as the band plays her out. When they finish, the audience is deafening as usual. Kara gives them a small wave and then heads off stage, stopping to hug Nick’s fiancé, who was playing guitar that night. Normally Cat would find it in herself to be impressed at his talent, but she is still processing how thoroughly she managed to screw up.

_Shit. Shit, shit, shit._

Cat had thought Kara was just busy this week trying to get as much put together for the quarterly filing as possible. Cat didn’t like to wait until the last minute, and her investors appreciated that CatCo released their reports promptly instead of waiting until the SEC deadline, like some of her competitors.

Kara had been scarce since Monday, but Cat hadn’t put it together until now that the younger woman had been avoiding her.

Cat had ended her meeting on Tuesday early; the board members who usually wasted time asking condescending questions about her proposals were unsurprisingly silent. She supposes that may have had something to do with the earlier discussion of public castration.

Kara had already left for lunch by the time Cat returned to her office. The afternoon had been so hectic trying to coordinate all of CatCo’s coverage of the crash that Cat hadn’t really seen much of her assistant for the rest of the day.

Wednesday had been less hectic, but just as busy. Cat had been busy calling in favors to get exclusives and trying to avoid her stations falling into the sensationalist cliché coverage of a tragedy. Now that Cat was thinking about it though, Kara had avoided her office like the plague. She ran around the building all day, choosing to hunt down various writers and producers instead of just calling them.

Even today, Kara had been quiet. Cat had noticed that she wasn’t as absurdly cheerful as normal, but hadn’t thought much of it. It was a quiet day, the media had moved on from the crash after a presidential candidate made yet another offensive comment. Cat arrived for the weekly scramble on time this evening, but she really just sat in her office while Kara ran interference. They had gotten the Tribune and the National City Weekly to the printers in record time, and Kara had left with the rest of staff.

Cat hadn’t even considered that Kara might be upset with her. Obviously the younger woman didn’t actively seek the spotlight, but it now occurred to Cat that she purposely avoided it. Kara poured her heart into her music, able to express herself without reservations due to her anonymity, and Cat was forcing her to sing in front of everyone she knew.

Cat didn’t know what she had really hoped to gain from forcing Kara to sing anyway. Yes, Kara needed to learn to acknowledge her strengths, but was it fair to make her acknowledge her talents in front of all of her friends and coworkers?

Cat sat, staring at her empty glass, trying to figure out how to apologize to Kara. Nick sets a fresh one down in front of her, finally finished closing out the tabs of a group of students.

“So?” Nick asks her once the boisterous group leaves the bar. “What did you learn this week?”

“Well Nick,” she says perfunctorily, “It has come to my attention that I have—how should I put this? I have fucked up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song in this chapter is "My Song" by Brandi Carlile. You can find a link to it (and all the other songs in the fic) on my fic tumblr CatCoWorldwide.


	6. Friday, October 2nd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A certain author decides to take mercy on Kara so her friends have a chance to make her feel better.  
> Cat finds out how good she is a productive procrastination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this chapter up tonight since we didn’t get an episode, so any errors are completely my own since I totally rushed my awesome beta yellow-nova. Anything that is right is all them, anything that is wrong is all me. If you notice something is wrong, shoot me a message on my main tumblr whywestillneedfeminism and I’ll edit it. You can also just message me for any other reason-random headcanons, music ideas, or anything else…

**Friday**

“Mom, the car is here!” Carter shouts down the hall. “I’m going to head downstairs. See you this afternoon!”

Cat strides out of her room, dressed and ready to go in a slim, plum colored dress.

“Actually, I have a meeting with your teacher this morning, so I’ll be riding with you.” Cat smirks at him. “You thought I forgot, didn’t you?”

“Well I wasn’t exactly going to remind you…” Carter has the good sense to look a little guilty.

“I’ve had this meeting with Mrs. Spratt on my schedule for over a month. Did you really think that would work?” She asks skeptically.

“A kid can hope.”

They walk into his school as the bell rings, and Cat heads towards the conference room where she has a cup of coffee and waits for Carter’s teacher.

The second bell rings and a few moments later, Mrs. Spratt walks in.

“Thank you for waiting, Ms. Grant,” she says. “I had to get them all shuttled off to Phys Ed.”

“It’s no problem at all,” Cat says graciously as the other woman gets settled at the table. Once the woman has had a chance to get a cup of coffee, Cat asks how Carter has been doing.

“Oh, I think our plan has been working really well!” Mrs. Spratt passes Cat several pieces of paper. “Those are notes from his other teachers, and they say pretty much the same thing. Carter has been doing much better paying attention when he needs to, and it hasn’t been disruptive at all to have him working on his own course work in the back of the room.”

“Really?” Cat is a little surprised. For the past six weeks, Carter had been receiving tutoring from several PHD candidates from NatTech and Cranford University. The idea was that they would provide him with some advanced coursework that he could do after he finished the work his teachers at school assigned. She figured there would be at least a few students who complained that he was getting special treatment.

He had been getting very bored since he usually finished his worksheets within minutes, and once he zoned out of the lesson, he usually stayed that way. The principal had wanted Carter to skip a few grades, but Cat was adamant that he would stay with his own age group. Her son had enough problems with interpersonal interactions; he didn’t need to be further ostracized by being a twelve year old in high school. He was learning far more being in a classroom with kids his age than he would in a college classroom.

Mrs. Spratt laughed. “Well there was one kid who got a little cheeky the first day. I had just gone over the algebra lesson for the day, and they were all working through their practice problems. Carter went to the back desk, like we had discussed, and got out his Calculus book. One of the other boys made a comment about how it wasn’t fair that Carter didn’t have to do the worksheet.”

“I hope that wasn’t too much of a problem for you,” Cat said quickly.

“Not at all! I was actually glad it happened in my class first, so it didn’t come up in English or History, when I’m not in the room,” she said with a gleam in her eye. “I just told the boy that he was completely welcome to work on what Carter was studying instead of his algebra. I think he stared at that integration symbol for about three seconds before he went back to his desk. No one has said anything since,” she finishes with a smirk.

“Has it caused any problems with the other kids though? The whole point of this is that he gets to socialize with his peers.” Cat fidgets with her hands, betraying her real source of concern.

“He’s been a lot better, actually!” Mrs. Spratt smiles. “If you look at the note from his English teacher, you will see that he did really well on a group project they did last week. And I even saw him talking one of his friends through an equation the other day.”

“That’s a relief. I know that his English tutor from Cranford _has_ been working on getting him to be able to discuss the readings she assigns him. I think it is helping him articulate himself more comfortably.” Cat is momentarily distracted by her phone vibrating. She apologizes and quickly silences it after glancing at the screen.

The teacher waves it off. “No problem. I was also hoping to talk to you about the upcoming science fair.”

She is cut off by Cat’s phone buzzing again, the screen reading ‘Bob Jones (CatNN).’

“I am so sorry. I told my assistant not to allow anyone bother me until 10 today. It must be urgent. I will just be one moment.”

Cat angrily swipes her phone to answer, and snaps out a “What?”

“ _Finally! You would think the CEO would answer a call from the head of her network. Or have an assistant who will actually do her job and call her boss FOR me instead of ignoring a direct order from her superior.”_

“I am in the middle of a meeting. Someone better be dying. On. Live. TV.”

_“Well I’m in your office with the producer of WCAT’s morning show, who is refusing to allow CatNN to run their anchor’s story! We are the national network, it is simply absurd that they won’t—“_

“You are in my office? Who is there?”

_“That idiot producer and your assistant.”_

“Put me on speakerphone.” Cat paces toward the window while she waits. “Can everyone hear me? Because I am only going to say this once.”

Cat hears a stammered _“I’m so sorry, Ms. Grant. I tried—“_ so she continues by cutting off her assistant.

“Bob. I am assuming my assistant told you I was in a meeting and I should not be disturbed. I do not appreciate that you ignored this simple request. Regardless, I do not have time to deal with whatever issue you are having. You and the producer will explain the issue to Ms. Danvers, and she will make whatever decision needs to be made. Her decision will be final.”

_“Cat, I don’t really think—“_

“I agree, Bob, you don’t think. I’m not sure you are even capable of thinking. There will be no arguments on this. If you do not respect my assistant’s decision as you would my own, I’m sure she will not mind showing you the way to HR to pick up a pink slip.”

Cat hangs up and turns off her phone before sitting back down at the table with a smile. “So what were you saying about the science fair?”

Mrs. Spratt closes her mouth, which had been hanging open in stunned silence.

“The science fair? Oh, yes! The science fair!” She looks flustered for a moment, looking around for a piece of paper, which she hands to Cat. “Our annual science fair is at the end of November. This sheet outlines the entry requirements. All of the students in my science class will be required to submit a project; however, I think it might be a bit unfair for everyone involved if Carter is entered into the middle school competition. As you can see, the middle school requirements lead to more broad projects that don’t allow for as much original experimentation and research.”

“I don’t think Carter would be very interested in building a potato clock…” Cat says.

“Exactly!” The teacher hands her another piece of paper. “This sheet outlines the requirements for the high school competition. I think Carter would be able to really dig into a topic that interests him, plus it would make it fairer to the other students in the middle school who are less advanced in science. He would have to write a research paper along with his presentation, but I think it would be a great experience for him. As his science teacher, I can just sign a form approving his submission into the upper level.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Spratt. I’m sure Carter will appreciate the opportunity. Would you like me to mention it to him this afternoon?”

“Oh no, it’s ok. I’ll be telling them all about the fair next week, I just wanted to give you a heads up. Projects like this can take a good bit of time outside of school.” Mrs. Spratt smiles. “Also, I’ll need you to sign a permission form for him to go over to the high school building to use the labs. I’m going to designate certain lessons for them to work on their projects, and if Carter needs more advanced equipment, I want him to be able to use the nicer labs.”

“Not a problem.” Cat signs the form with a flourish. “Is there anything else you wanted to discuss?”

“That’s it!” Mrs. Spratt stands to shake hands with Cat. “I’m just so glad we could find a way to keep Carter in my class. I speak for my colleagues as well when I say that we are grateful to have him. He is such a great kid.”

Cat gives the teacher one of her rare genuine smiles that is usually reserved for her son. “No, thank _you_ Mrs. Spratt. You have no idea how much I appreciate what you do for Carter.”

* * *

 

Cat slides into the black town car a few minutes later. “Thank you for waiting Devin. Or is it Kevin?”

He chuckles. “You were right the first time, ma’am; it’s Devin. Are we heading to the office now?”

“Unfortunately.” She turns on her phone, and is surprised to see that she doesn’t have any angry messages from Bob or any panicked texts from Kara. She smiles, thinking of how dependable her assistant is before she catches herself. She still hasn’t figured out how to handle the Halloween situation, and the guilt gnaws at her when she thinks of how much Kara has been helping her.

She had been up half of the night trying to figure out to let Kara off the hook without seeming like she was backing down. Sure, she could just apologize, but that wasn’t really her style. Especially since she wasn’t going to let Kara know the reason she was apologizing. Cat didn’t want to acknowledge that particular violation of trust quite yet.

Cat enters the office and is greeted with a scalding latte.

“Kiera! I must admit that I’m surprised that I don’t have an angry middle-aged man with a comb-over camping out in my office.” The office is actually completely calm, no angry producers or network heads waiting to ambush her.

“Oh that! Yeah, um, they headed out a while ago. I think it’ll work out fine. I’m so sorry Mr. Jones called you; I tried to explain to him that he needed to wait.” Kara opens the door to Cat’s office for her. “How did the meeting with Carter’s teacher go?”

“Quite well, actually. Mrs. Spratt said Carter has been doing much better in class now that he can work on material that is more his speed. Apparently he even did very well in a group project,” she says proudly. Cat looks up to see a blinding smile on Kara’s face. She didn’t realize how much she had missed that until now.

“That’s so great!” Kara beams at her.

“Yes. His tutors have helped quite a lot.” Cat loses herself for a moment, and she can’t figure out why she is smiling back at the younger woman. It certainly isn’t because her assistant seems overjoyed at the thought of her son’s success, which Kara has no reason to be genuinely interested in. And it certainly isn’t because Kara is directing that inexplicable joy at her, which makes her stomach feel strange. She probably just needs an antacid. She definitely isn’t smiling because the sun is hitting Kara’s hair at just the right angle so it looks positively golden.

Cat breaks the moment, walking to sit behind her desk. “Anyway, what did Bob want?”

“Oh yeah, so one of WCAT’s morning anchors had been working on an investigative report on one of the presidential candidates for a few weeks. It got way bigger than they originally thought, and they got wind of it at CatNN. They wanted one of their pundits to break the story tonight, but the producer for WCAT’s morning news wasn’t going to let her anchor get screwed over like that.” Kara looks at Cat, probably to gauge her reaction, but Cat just waits for her to continue, keeping her face smooth.

“Anyway, so Mr. Jones was arguing that if they waited until Monday morning to air the story, another network might scoop them. Plus he thinks that the story would make a bigger splash if his guy breaks the story during primetime tonight. Rebecca, the producer, wouldn’t hand over the research, and her boss was backing her up. Mr. Jones didn’t want to duke it out with him, so he thought you would settle it.”

Cat purses her lips and asks, “And how did _I_ settle it?”

“I—um, well he did make a convincing argument about being scooped, and about airing the story during a better time slot.” Kara looks at her nervously. “But it didn’t really seem fair to have them take credit for all of the local station’s work? So I had Rebecca call the producer for the evening news, and I got the nightly news producer for the national network on the phone too. Rebecca’s anchor is going to give a teaser version of her report this evening on the local station, and then the nightly news will show the full version for the national audience. Bob’s pundit is going to interview the anchor about the story tonight, which fits the format of the show better anyway.”

“And what shade was Billy Bob’s face when you made that decision?”

“It transitioned from fire truck red to the color of your dress.” Kara responds promptly.

Cat glances at her dress and cocks her eyebrow.

“Trust me, Ms. Grant. That shade of purple looks much better on you.”

“Oh really?” Cat delights in the nervous squeak Kara lets out when she realizes what she just said.

“I mean—um—objectively, it’s a nice dress, I mean, color. On you. It makes you—I mean the dress—uh look very nice. Objectively.” Kara looks like she might keep rambling for another hour, and while Cat would really like to watch her stammer through a few more compliments; she decides to take mercy on her.

“In any case, thank you for handling the situation. And providing me with that wonderful mental image of Bob having an aneurysm. I will cherish it.” Cat chuckles. “I have some emails to respond to, so I will call you if I need anything.”

“Yes, Ms. Grant. Let me know when you want me to get your lunch.”

Cat catches herself watching the younger woman leave and scolds herself for the lingering glance. She tries to tell herself that she is marveling at the depth of Kara’s wardrobe when it comes to colored pants, but she can’t help but acknowledge that it has something to do with the fit of the pants as well.

She shuts down that thought right away. She is not going to lower herself to the same level as her creepy board members, leering at a woman half their age. Kara’s work merits more admiration than her body, however absurdly perfect it is. _I mean honestly, what is her workout regimen?_

Cat works her way through her emails, or at least the ones that had managed to make it through Kara’s prescreening. Nothing seems especially urgent, so she figures it is probably as good a time as any to have a discussion with Kara about the party. On the other hand, she should probably check her personal email first.

Two hours later, Cat had managed to get a head start on her work for the next week, as well as complete a number of tasks that were beneath her pay grade. Overall it had been a very productive morning of procrastination.

She sends Kara for her lunch and tries to think of a good way to approach the young woman about the party. Cat wants to just cancel the whole damn competition, but she has already heard from three celebrities’ managers that they are planning to sing. Apparently, Megan Hilty is planning something Idina, which is practically a guarantee of something from Wicked. She didn’t know that Idina was even planning on being on the west coast, but Cat wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to see her perform, dumb competition or not.

_I’m just going to have to suck it up, and apologize to Kara. Without telling her that I’ve been stalking her. Or seeming weak. Or that I care too much._

Cat checks her email again.

* * *

 

Kara walks off the elevator with a lettuce wrap and a fresh latte for her boss. She sees James leaving Cat’s office as she turns the corner. She gives him a questioning look, but he just smiles and says he’ll talk to her later.

Cat looks as though she wants to ask her something once she hands over her lunch, but she just takes the wrap and tells Kara to take a long lunch.

Kara decides to grab a pizza and then go on patrol for a bit. She planned on dropping off the other half of the pizza at home so she could eat it for breakfast, but it doesn’t make it that far. She probably should have just bought a second pizza.

She tosses the box into the recycling bin in the alley beneath the building she is sitting on, and then flies toward the ocean. She closes her eyes for a second, feeling the salty spray on her face and the wind in her hair.

She had left the bar last night with a huge weight lifted off of her shoulders. She had even managed to sleep through the night. There was something about getting everything off of her chest and sharing what she was feeling, even if it was to a room full of strangers. It was so much more cathartic than just singing in her shower where her only audience was her upstairs neighbor, who would bang on the floor with his cane whenever she got too loud.

_That curmudgeon really is selectively deaf. He has no problem hearing me though the ceiling, but when the landlord reminds him about the two-cat limit all of a sudden he is hard of hearing._

Kara does a few loops over the cresting waves before she heads back toward downtown. She helps an old woman cross the road, finds a little boy’s dog which had run off, and helps a woman with a flat tire get to a job interview on time. Nothing major seemed to be going on, which is a nice break for the hero.

Kara gets back to the office a minute late; it had taken her longer than usual to twist her slightly damp hair back into its bun. Cat didn’t seem to notice, however. If Kara didn’t know her ultra-productive boss better, she would think that she is just blankly staring at her computer screen.

A while later, Cat calls her into her office. She is getting ready to leave to pick up Carter, so she talks Kara through a list of tasks to complete before she leaves for the day. Cat also hands her a folder of résumés to bring to James.

Cat hesitates as she is about to walk out the door, and Kara notices that she has that same look on her face, as though she wants to ask Kara something.

“Anything else, Ms. Grant?”

Cat looks at her and shakes her head. “No, I think that’s it. Just tell James I’d like a decision by Tuesday.” Cat pauses and looks at Kara for another moment. “And thank you, by the way. For handling that situation this morning. I do appreciate that I can count on you to make decisions in my absence. I would have handled it exactly the same way.”

Kara doesn’t know what to say to that, so she just stammers out a “N-no problem, Ms. Grant,” as Cat heads toward her elevator.

* * *

 

An hour later, Kara heads towards James’s office with the résumés and knocks on his door quietly.

“Kara, come on in! I was actually about to come looking for you anyway.” He spots the folder in her hands. “What do you have for me today?”

“Cat asked me to drop these off for you. She wants you to look them over and give her a short list of candidates for the new staff photographer at the Trib.” Kara hands him the folder. “She said that there might be room in the budget for two, but she wants you to give her a list by Tuesday so you can start interviewing by the end of the week.”

“Wow. I guess Lucy wasn’t kidding when she said the company was doing well.” James looks pleased. “We really could use another person or two covering National City. I don’t mind using freelancers for the national stuff, but it would be good to have someone on call for when Supergirl spends her lunch break helping little old ladies…” He smirks at her.

“What? It was a slow day on crime! I’m not going to complain about that!”

James laughs. “Well if it’s so slow, maybe Supergirl has time tomorrow to do a favor for The Queen of All Media?”

Kara looks at him suspiciously. “Is that what you were talking about before lunch?”

“It’s not really that big of a deal. She doesn’t want another exclusive or anything. She said she was really just passing along a message.” James goes to his desk to grab an email printout. “Some of the parents of the kids on the bus sent a request up the chain to see if Supergirl would be willing to visit the hospital. They figured Cat had the best shot of getting in contact with their elusive hero, and the kids really want to see you.”

Kara looks at him, unsure.

“Cat wanted me to let Supergirl know that she is just passing along the request. She didn’t want to pressure her into it or anything.” James smiles at her. “She did tell me that I _damn well better be there with a camera_ if it does happen, but I promise she isn’t threatening my job over this one.”

“I don’t know, James.” Kara sighs. “I really don’t think those kids will want to see me. I was the one that didn’t save their teacher. If I had moved faster, she would still be alive.”

James puts his hand on her shoulder and turns her so that she is looking him in the eye.

“Kara, I want you to listen to me and really pay attention, okay?” He waits for her nod before he continues. “That woman’s death is not your fault, in any way, shape, or form. You did the best you could, and no one would _ever_ think of blaming you for saving those kids.”

“But I shouldn’t have listened to her when she said she was fine!” Kara argues, fighting the tears that are burning in her eyes. “It would have taken me two seconds to see if she really was okay. And maybe I could have taken her with the kid, or I could have—“

“No, you couldn’t Kara,” James says soothingly. “You couldn’t have carried her and that boy, and regardless, she made that choice. Not you. She wanted you to give that kid the best shot at surviving, and she knew what she was doing.”

He brings her into a hug. He gives really good hugs. Kara doesn’t know what she did to deserve a friend like him.

“Just let me know, okay?” He says after a few moments. “I’ll get the whole thing set up.”

Kara wipes her eyes, nods.

“By the way, I checked with a few people around the building. That guy in HR that always sings in the elevator is definitely planning to sing on Halloween. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone get so excited about a work party in my life. Winn also said he’d do something, so I think that should be enough employees for the competition.”

“You are the best. I haven’t even had a chance to think about getting people to sign up.”

“I know. That’s why I went ahead and checked around. The supersquad isn’t just for the hero work, you know.” He winks.

She gives him another tight hug, having to remind herself that he is indeed breakable, and then heads to the elevator to go home.

As she walks out of the building, she gets a text message from James. It is the link to the interviews with parents from the crash. There is one with Mr. and Mrs. Green, the parents of little James.

She sends him back a text to say that she will meet him at the hospital in the morning.

* * *

 

Kara flies to the hospital the next morning and is greeted by James and the head of pediatrics. They tell her that almost all of the children have already been discharged, but when James had called the hospital, they contacted their parents. The doctor walks them up to the recreation room, where Kara is greeted by more hugs than she can handle.

Kara is dragged to a table, where she is pulled into a very small chair and is presented with a box of crayons and some paper. Apparently they are all making cards for their two classmates who are still in the hospital. One is being discharged later that day; she had gotten an infection after she had a compound fracture. The other is James, who still has a few weeks before he will be able to go home.

The kids chatter animatedly at her, and she makes sure to find an excuse to visit each table so they all have a chance to see her. By the time her two cards are finished, she is pretty sure she will never get all of the glitter off of her costume.

James quietly retrieves her to go visit the other students, and as she leaves, she is almost knocked over by the final few hugs. She makes her way to see Mary, the little girl with the broken leg, first. She greets Supergirl with a grin that rivals one of Kara’s own, and immediately asks for the hero to sign all of her memorabilia. Which is a lot. According to her parents, there is even more at home, including a life size poster and Supergirl bedding. She had even gotten a blue cast on her leg. Kara writes a message to her in Kryptonese on the cast; Mary looks like she is going to bounce out of the bed with excitement.

Kara hesitates when it’s time to enter James’s room, however. The boy had been so broken when she had last seen him, and she had felt so helpless during that flight that seemed like it lasted a lifetime. She feels a hand on her shoulder, and she turns to see her best friend standing behind her.

“I’m going to hang out here, ok?” The photographer motions towards a chair outside the door. “The doc said he is super excited to see you though.”

Kara nods silently, and takes a deep breath before opening the door.

“Hey James, I brought you a card and—“

“SUPERGIRL‼‼‼!”

Kara spends the next twenty minutes getting a full update on everything that has happened to James in the past week. Everything. She then spends another ten minutes being shown almost every page in a book about giraffes. James said someone sent it “anomimonously.” Kara is glad that the illustrations are as good as they looked on the website.

Once they finish the book, Kara asks the boy if he wants to meet her friend James. He nods shyly and pushes himself up straighter in his bed. Kara opens the door and finds James looking through the pictures on his camera. He lights up when she asks him to come in to meet “the other James.”

They spend several minutes chatting, and “big James” talks about all of the cool things he has photographed and shows the boy how his camera works. The kid asks excitedly if James can take a picture of him with Supergirl. James looks to the corner of the room, where the boy’s parents had been sitting quietly. They nod in permission.

James takes all sorts of pictures: smiles, silly faces, and superhero poses. James even gets in the picture and they all take a selfie. Eventually, it is obvious that “little James” is getting tired. The photographer says his farewells and excuses himself to the hallway.

Kara stays until the boy falls asleep though, sitting on the edge of his bed as he leans on her shoulder. She carefully moves his head to a pillow and quietly leaves the room with his parents.

She can’t stop the tears that fall when they thank her. They tell her that he wouldn’t have had function in his legs for the rest of his life if she hadn’t gotten him to the hospital so quickly. The doctors say he is going to regain full function with physical therapy.

“Our baby is going to be able to walk across the stage when he graduates because of you, play sports because of you. He is _alive_ because of you.”

Kara chokes back a sob when they hug her.

* * *

 

As they leave the hospital, Kara notices James rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

“What’s up?” She asks curiously.

“Well, uh, she told me not to tell you, but I feel like a little warning is only fair…” James glances around as though he is afraid of being overheard. “You know how you stopped replying to Lucy’s texts?”

“I was a little busy dealing with psychotic family members to argue about how many costume changes is feasible for a three minute performance!” Kara says indignantly.

“I know,” he says gently. “But Lucy is kinda planning on ambushing you at your apartment. Apparently _magic doesn’t happen overnight_ or something to that effect.”

“Do you think she would buy it if I told her there was some sort of alien related accident? That left me with a sudden inability to dance?” Kara looks at him hopefully.

“Only if you could survive her cross-examination.” James chuckle. “Which trust me, you can’t.”

“Fine.” She huffs. “But if you don’t hear from me in three hours, I expect a full DEO extraction team to come rescue me. I don’t care what you have to tell Alex to make it happen.”

* * *

 

As it turns out, James doesn’t have to call in a bomb threat to the DEO. He is sent regular Snapchats with the costume choices, and one video of Lucy attempting to sing along with Kara. He is planning to save that one for any future blackmail needs.

Kara ends up ordering Chinese take-out so they can keep working. Although by that time, it is less work and more just goofing off. Kara had finally negotiated her way down to just one costume change, although Lucy had decided that she would have to do at least one split in exchange for hampering her “creative process.”

Kara also had to insist that her glasses would stay on for the performance. She was going to be pushing it a little anyway with her costume, and she had to draw the line somewhere. It gave her some semblance of control, especially when Lucy seemed so determined to make the whole thing as seductive as possible. Which was ridiculous. Because Cat Grant is not the sort of person to get distracted by a little leg.

Lucy finally leaves after the evening devolves into a lip-sync competition with increasingly aerobatic choreography. The old man upstairs was banging on his floor, and the woman living below Kara sent a politely worded text asking if someone is dying.

Kara goes to sleep with a smile on her face.

* * *

 

“Ka-ra, wake u-up.” The singsong greeting rouses Kara from a weird dream. All she can remember is that she was driving a tractor. She opens her eyes when her sister keeps poking her in the forehead.

“What?” She rubs her eyes and notices that Alex is in her work clothes.

“Sunday movie marathon!” Alex says excitedly. “Also, I need you to check my hand and make sure it isn’t broken. I’ll be in the kitchen making coffee!” Alex walks out of the room without further explanation.

“Again?” Kara calls toward the kitchen. She groans and slowly gets out of bed. “Who was it this time?”

“Hmm? I can’t hear you.” Alex says from the kitchen. Kara knows perfectly well that her sister heard her question. It’s not exactly like the apartment is _that_ big.

“Who did you punch this time? Or was it an alien? Or a wall?” Kara walks into the kitchen with a stern look on her face.

“Oh, no one special, just uh, an intruder in the DEO.” Alex looks out of the corner of her eye at Kara. “Anyway, can you check and see if there are any broken bones?”

Kara rolls her eyes and looks closely at Alex’s right hand. “I don’t see anything, but I’m not exactly a radiologist. Do you want me to make you an ice pack?”

“Yes please!”

Kara grabs a zip-lock bag from the drawer, fills it halfway with water, and then gives it a quick breath to freeze it. She crushes the ice in one hand as she stretches for the dishcloth hanging on the oven, wrapping it around the bag.

Alex reaches for the bag with her good hand, but Kara lifts it over her head.

“Really, Kara?”

“I just have one question.” Kara floats a few feet off the floor so Alex’s attempts at jumping for the pack are futile. “Why didn’t you call me when someone broke into the DEO? That is a pretty big deal.”

Alex looks at her feet. “Well, uh, they didn’t exactly break in…”

“So how did they get in?” Kara looks at her curiously.

“He may or may not have been let in through the front gate. Because he may or may not be a general with top secret clearance…”

“You punched General Lane?” Kara shrieks.

“Only a little…” Alex takes advantage of Kara’s momentary distraction and snatches the icepack out of her hand.

“Only a little.” Kara says faintly. “You punched a general of the United States Army in the face, but only _a little_?”

Alex sits down on the couch and winces as she puts the pack on her knuckles. She shrugs, and says, “Well I didn’t break my hand, so I didn’t really hit him that hard. That should count as a little…and I didn’t say I punched him in the face. I mean—I did, but still. You shouldn’t make assumptions.”

“H-how? Wh-why? Why would you punch General Lane? And of course I knew you punched him in the face, you always punch people in the face.”

“True.” Alex concedes. “It was just that his face is so punchable! Also, he was trying to take custody of Astra.”

Kara looks at her nervously.

“We didn’t let him,” Alex reassures her. “He was even more pissed after I gave him a shiner, but Hank talked him down.”

“Really? He gave up, just like that?” Kara raises her eyebrows skeptically.

“Not really. But when Hank reminded him that his previous interrogation violated the Geneva Convention III, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, Part 3, Section 1, Article 17. And that not only did he, a general, _personally_ violate the Geneva Convention, but the information he gained from it resulted in significant loss of life of those under his command.” Alex shrugs. “Hank kinda has him by the balls, even if he doesn’t want to admit it.”

“So Astra is still at the DEO?” Kara tries to make the question seem casual and fails miserably.

“Yeah, she is back in her cell,” Alex replies. “I’ve been put in charge of her interrogation, not that I’m getting much out of her.”

“Really? Why you? Don’t you guys have specialists for that?”

“I don’t know. Apparently she said she would only speak to me. Something about trusting me to be honorable or some crap like that.” Alex scoffs.

“Pshhh. Yeah, like she would know anything about that,” Kara replies half-heartedly.

“Anyway, all I know is that we were lucky as hell to get another opportunity to catch her.” Alex stands up to grab the remote. “Hell, her suit was even malfunctioning so our weapons actually worked.”

Kara just murmurs in agreement, pretending to look at the movie options on Netflix.

“I _was_ really surprised about one thing though.” Alex says, putting on a casual tone.

“What’s that?” Kara is clicking through the movies so fast that the Internet connection can’t keep up.

“She hasn’t insisted on seeing you.” Alex says. “She asked about you—said you didn’t seem like yourself when the two of you fought—but all she wanted was for me to check on you. I told her it wasn’t really any of her business, and she just kinda nodded sadly. I mentioned that I was surprised she wasn’t making you come in to speak to her, but apparently she didn’t want to force you to see her. Something about not wanting you to think any worse of her?”

“Well that’s, umm…I guess that is nice of her.” Kara fiddles with the mouse for a moment before standing abruptly. “I’m going to grab more coffee. Do you want some?”

They drop the conversation and eventually settle on a Firefly marathon for the rest of the day. They are periodically interrupted by Lucy, who keeps sending Kara updates on the costumes. When Lucy needs her measurements, she just tells her to ask Winn. She could probably use his help with the sewing machine too, judging by the pictures.

Alex leaves after dinner to go back to work and on her way out, Kara asks her to tell Astra that she is feeling better. Alex just nods and waves goodbye.

* * *

 

Kara wakes up for work on Monday feeling like herself again. She decides to wear one of her favorite sundresses, forever grateful for the coastal climate of National City. She grabs a white cardigan to go with the blue polka-dot dress, and leaves her apartment early enough to grab herself a latte along with Cat’s.

Kara’s mood isn’t even ruined when she proceeds spill her drink all over her cardigan, which is no longer anywhere close to white. She is trying to dab out the stain when she hears Cat getting on the elevator. Kara has just enough time to dump the paper towels in the trash and heat her boss’s latte before she hears the telltale click of high heels.

“Kiera. What an interesting fashion choice! I’ll have to tell Miranda that coffee stains are the new black.” Cat takes her own latte and walks towards her office. “Just take the damn thing off, there is no way you are going to get out that stain without bleach.”

“I guess you’re right,” she says sheepishly. Kara quickly shrugs out of the cardigan and drapes it over her chair before following Cat into her office.

“We have a pretty easy morning, Kiera, but I need you to find something for me.” Cat is shuffling papers on her desk, and finally looks up at her assistant. She seems to lose her train of thought, her eyes unfocused and her mouth slightly open.

“Ms. Grant?” Kara clears her throat. “What was it that you needed me to find?”

Cat jumps and immediately moves her eyes to the papers she is determinedly shuffling around her desk. “Yes. I would like you to find me the email of Mr. or Mrs. Green. They have a son who was injured in the accident. I need to send them some pictures.”

“Why?” Kara asks without thinking.

“Because I want to. And that should be reason enough for you,” Cat snaps. She looks back up at Kara and softens. “I want to send them the pictures James took of them and their son with Supergirl. As I’m sure you heard, CatCo arranged for Supergirl to visit the hospital on Saturday.”

“Well I heard that Cat Grant personally arranged it, but…” Kara replies cheekily.

Cat glares at her. “Well, James took some excellent pictures of the whole thing, and what didn’t end up in the Sunday paper, we put online to drive traffic to the Tribune’s website. We had all of the parents sign media releases, but as I was looking through the photos of James Green, I didn’t feel comfortable publishing them. I would like to send them to his parents so they can have them.” Cat turns her computer screen around so Kara can see the pictures.

Kara slowly clicks her way through all of them, the goofy grins and silly poses. Her breath hitches when she sees the last one. It is in the hallway of the hospital, the fluorescent lights harsh and the cheerful murals on the wall seem out of place next to the defibrillator cart sitting on the side. At the far end of the hall, three figures are in a tight embrace. Only Supergirl’s face is visible, if only partially, and her hand is wiping the corner of her eye.

“This is—beautiful.” Kara finally says. “Why didn’t you publish it? I’m sure it would have sold papers.”

Cat rolls her eyes. “Well it’s not all about selling papers, Kiera. I’m not going to make money off of these poor parents’ suffering, now am I? It seemed like a very personal moment, along with the other photos, and I would like them to be able to decide what _they_ want to do with them. Which is why I need you to get their email address for me. Chop chop.”

* * *

 

Cat tries not to keep looking at Kara as she is working at her computer. _Why on earth did I tell her to take off that damn sweater? That girl needs a concealed carry permit for those guns._ Cat considers slapping herself on the back of the head for making such a ridiculous joke, even if it was in her mind. _I am no better than any other pervy CEO fantasizing about their assistant._

It doesn’t help that she keeps thinking about the way Kara’s eyes looked when she was going through the pictures. How her eyes perfectly matched the color of her dress. Cat could lose herself in those eyes. She would do anything to keep looking at those eyes; she had missed them last week.

_Shit. I still have to apologize about the party. Or not apologize. Make a correction. I’ve had to issue corrections before. Once. I don’t really do corrections either._

She sees Kara hang up her phone and write something on a sticky note. She waves it in Cat’s direction, and Cat motions for Kara to come into the office.

“I found Mrs. Green’s email, Ms. Grant!” Kara puts the note on Cat’s desk. “James had it on the release forms.”

“Wonderful.” Cat opens up the email she has drafted, puts in the address, and sends it. She takes a breath to steal herself. “Kiera, I also had something I would like to discuss with you.”

Kara looks nervous at her boss’s serious tone. “Sure, Ms. Grant. What about?”

“I have been thinking, and it was not appropriate for me to require you to sing at a company party. I was thinking about you as an asset to benefit CatCo instead of as a person who may not feel comfortable performing in front of your peers.” Cat sits up a little straighter at her desk. “You do not have to sing, and I apologize for making you uncomfortable.”

“Wow. Um…thanks, Ms. Grant.” Kara fidgets with her glasses. “But actually, I’m pretty excited about the whole thing. I was a little nervous at first, but Lucy spent all Saturday helping me, so I’m really looking forward to it now.”

“Oh really? And what was Ms. Lane helping you with?” Cat looks over her glasses at her assistant, who she is just noticing looks far too happy for a Monday.

“Just a few dance moves, nothing major. Anyway, if that’s everything, I need to stop by HR so they can contact James’s short list. You approved them all, right?”

“Yes, they were all fine. And that will be all.” Kara leaves, and Cat sits in stunned silence for several minutes, trying to process the fact that Kara had accepted her apology without a thought but was still planning on singing. And that Lucy Lane had something to do with it. She reaches for her phone.

“Lucy, when you have a moment, I would like a word.”

* * *

 

Kara gets back from HR, and a few minutes later she sees Lucy walking off the elevator.

“Lucy! I didn’t know she had you on her schedule.” Kara gives a quick hug to her friend.

“She called me a few minutes ago, I think she just needs a quick consult.” Lucy smiles at her and then walks into Cat’s office.

Kara knows she shouldn’t, but she is curious so she listens in.

“Ah, Ms. Lane. I’m so glad you could tear yourself away from what I’m sure was a riveting conversation with my assistant,” Cat says breezily.

Lucy just chuckles. “Sorry, Ms. Grant. What do you need my help with?”

There is an awkward pause before Cat begins speaking. “Yes. I called you to the office to help me. With a legal thing. Because you are my general counsel, and why else would I call you to my office? I need your help with a legal question.” Kara risks a glance into the office, and can see that her boss is shuffling paper around her desk nervously.

“Providing legal advice _would_ be my job, Ms. Grant. Thanks for clearing that up,” Lucy says lightly.

Kara doesn’t look up, but knows Lucy is on the receiving end of one of the CEO’s signature glares.

“I’m not sure if you know, but we are going to be hosting a singing competition at our Halloween party.” There is a pause; Lucy probably nods. “I have…quite recently thought about the fact that there may be legal issues involved, with the rights to distribute recordings of the performances et cetera.”

“I’ll have to check with one of our guys that specializes in the Internet law stuff, since I’m sure people will be posting their own videos, but I’m sure we can figure something out.”

Kara breathes a sigh of relief as Lucy heads towards the door. When Cat mentioned the Halloween party, she was sure Lucy was going to make some sort of inappropriate comment.

Lucy stops before she opens the door. “I’m actually really excited about the party, Ms. Grant. I spent all Saturday helping Kara with her choreography. Well really just the afternoon, I guess. We got a little distracted after dinner…” Lucy trails off with a smirk.

Cat makes a little noise at the back of her throat. “Oh really? Kiera needed _that_ much help?”

“Well it took me a bit to get those hips to relax, but once she did, let me tell you. That girl is flexible and _knows_ how to make it work for her.” Lucy opens the door and throws a wink over her shoulder at Cat, who is standing with her mouth slightly open.

Before Kara can even fully process what Lucy just said to her boss, Lucy walks over to where Kara is still seated and puts her hand on Kara’s bare bicep.

“Do you still want to do lunch today? I think I’ll be free at twelve. Just let me know when you’re ready.” Lucy trails her fingers down Kara’s arm, and then walks towards the elevators without looking back.

Kara isn’t sure what just happened, but she knows that she doesn’t want to look at her boss right now. She should ask Alex whether it is possible for her boss to have heat vision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw, NatTech is supposed to be like CalTech and Cranford is supposed to be like Stanford. In case my cheesy university naming was unclear...


	7. Tuesday, October 6th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara continues to be awesome at life, and Cat needs to start acknowledging how awesome she is. Out loud, because it only counts if it is out loud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long. I swear that once this test to end all tests is over, I'll be better about updating. I love you all so much with your amazing comments and kudos, and I promise I won't abandon this story.
> 
> Also, this chapter is pretty darn fluffy. No angst. I know some of you really don't need any angst in your lives right now, so I present to you: No angst.

Cat Grant had a perfectly average morning. Those were the best mornings when you are the CEO of a multibillion-dollar international media conglomerate. It means everyone else has actually managed to do their jobs. Even the reporters that she had personally selected to stand in the rain in South Carolina (for reasons that had nothing to do with their sexist coverage at the Emmy’s) had been covering the story properly. Frankly, she had planned on having to send in someone else once the ‘standing in the rain while talking about how much it is raining’ portion of the disaster coverage had passed. The two reporters had managed to exceed her expectations, however low they may have been.

She is honestly a little bored. She had gotten so much of her work done last Friday when she was actively avoiding admitting her failures that she didn’t even have any menial paperwork to do. _It doesn’t help that my damn assistant does half of my job for me._

In the past couple of weeks, much of her staff had come to the realization that it was much easier to ask Kara if they were heading in the right direction instead of facing Cat. By the time their work was on Cat’s desk for final approval, Kara would have already told them how to fix all of their idiotic mistakes. _I suppose it isn’t the worst thing in the world that I, the CEO, don’t have to micromanage editorial decisions…_

Kara had delivered her lettuce wrap and left for her own lunch break over an hour ago; Cat had once again insisted on her taking a proper lunch break. If the girl is going to insist on showing up to the office early and leaving far too late, she should at least have some time to herself to digest the abnormally large midday feast she called “lunch.”

Unfortunately, the concern Cat holds for her assistant’s digestive health has left her spinning around in her chair with nothing to do. At least when Kara is in the office, she can stare at her hair and try to figure out how the hell she gets it to twist into a bun that way. Or she can try to think of reasons that Kara can grab a plate out of the microwave that is so hot it makes the swooning sweater she calls a friend squeal in pain. Reasons other than her assistant being Supergirl. Because that isn’t a thing. Maybe Kara just has callouses. She does have that midwestern thing going on. Maybe she used to work on a farm. _Now that’s an image._

Cat is saved from that very dangerous train of thought by a ding from her phone.

 

That Woman (1:04 pm): Damn Kitty, I thought you were too old to make social media work for you, but apparently I was wrong.

Cat Grant (1:05 pm): Don’t give me that shit, Lois. You aren’t that much younger than me. And what the hell are you talking about anyway?

That Woman (1:06 pm): You managed to combine your superhero, a sick kid, and putting a family over your own financial gain in one brilliant viral post. Damn, I hate you.

_When did I post something? Has Kara been using my twitter without permission? She knows she is only allowed to do that during_   _the Republican debates…_

“WOLFRAM! I need you in my office when you finish that heart attack you call a lunch!”

 

Cat Grant (1:07 pm): “I think that still ended up sounding like a compliment, Lane. Try again.

That Woman (1:07 pm): You are a terrible writer, and your sense of style is lacking.

Cat Grant (1:08 pm): Better. We’re still doing brunch next weekend, right?

That Woman (1:09 pm): Of course. See you then.

That Woman (1:09 pm): Also your Golden Retriever hero seems to have gotten out of the house again. Looks like she’s playing around in the river that used to be a state capital. She really is a fucking saint. It’s kinda disgusting.

The Walking Wardrobe Malfunction half runs into her office, swallowing the last bite of the pile of cheese and tomato paste Chicagoans consider pizza. He hovers near the door, glancing back at the look of sympathy one of his fellow office monkeys gives him.

“Finally. I have been told I’ve gone viral. And that I’m a genius. While I was already aware of the latter, I have no idea what I would have done to accomplish the former.” Cat looks at him expectantly.

“So you want me to…?” He trails off, looking at her for some hint of what he is supposed to be doing.

“I want you to figure out what the hell the Internet thinks I did!” Cat waves him towards her computer.

“Oh! Yeah! Um…yeah, I guess I can do it here.” Cat just moves aside and pushes her chair to him.

“Wow. Even your chair. Okay, then. Let me check a few sites…” Winn types swiftly, opening several different tabs. Eventually he settles on a blog post and stands up so Cat can read it.

“It looks like this is what everyone is talking about. You’re trending on Facebook and Twitter, and this post is linked on almost all of the posts. It already has over thirty thousand reblogs.” Winn sees Cat squinting at the screen and subtly pushes her reading glasses into her line of sight.

“The blog was set up by Mrs. Green, who is using it to share the progress of her son who was injured in the crash. I think she wants to thank you?” Winn inches his way towards the door. Cat dismisses him with a wave, engrossed in reading the post, titled _An Open Letter to Supergirl, James Olsen, and Cat Grant._

It begins by thanking Supergirl for not just saving her son, but for taking the time to visit him. She talks about how attentive the hero was, and how she spent so much time with her son. Mrs. Green includes the picture of Supergirl and her son making silly faces at the camera.

Next she thanks James for the beautiful pictures, as well as for being so wonderful with her son. At the end of this paragraph, she put the selfie of her son with Supergirl and James. All three are smiling brightly into the camera, and the little boy looks absolutely thrilled.

The final paragraph is addressed to “The supposed Ice Queen, Cat Grant.” Amanda Green begins by summarizing what most people think about the CEO—how she doesn’t care about but than the bottom line. The post then continues on, saying how utterly wrong this idea is. Mrs. Green thanks Cat for “doing the impossible” by getting Supergirl to the hospital and sending the head of a department just to take pictures, only to decide not to publish them. She says that Cat’s compassion is second-to-none and that her family’s “personal saint” deserves more than to have people believe she is ruthless and cold.

The post concludes with the picture of the Greens hugging Supergirl, captioned “Thank you, Ms. Grant. For this picture, and for the opportunity to thank our family’s hero in person.”

Cat finishes reading the post and switches to the tab Winn opened that shows all of the tweets where she is mentioned. She skims through them, most are just links to the blog, a few with added comments like “Made me cry-must read” or “Ice Queen my ass.” The rest of them are similar sentimental crap, with far fewer trolls than usual mixed in.

Cat shakes her head and switches back to her main feed. It consists primarily of freelance journalists and photographers with a select few celebrities sprinkled in who are actually as funny as they think they are. One of Cat’s favorite photojournalists, who happens to be coming in to interview for the Tribune opening, has posted two pictures of Supergirl. In one, the hero is carrying a massive amount of sandbags, and in the second picture she is filling more bags. Her hand is blurred; the camera unable to capture how fast she is moving the scoop back and forth between the pile of sand and the bag.

Cat swiftly pulls out her phone and calls the photographer.

_“Ms. Grant! How are you today?”_ The signal isn’t great, but Cat can hear the rush of water in the background.

“I’m doing well, but I’m not the one who is in the middle of The Flood of the Century, Maria. How are you doing? Do I need to send you some dry clothes?” Cat asks the question sarcastically, but her tone betrays her concern.

_“Haha, I’m surviving, Ms. Grant, but I’ll let you know if I need you to send the CatCo helicopter with some fresh socks.”_ The woman on the end of the line chuckles. _“I have a feeling you aren’t calling me about the state of my wardrobe though.”_

“As a matter of fact, I was looking through Twitter, and I noticed you had some rather exclusive photos of CatCo’s favorite hero.” Cat says leadingly. “I was wondering whether you had any that you hadn’t published yet that were up for sale. I’ve got a space above the fold that we were planning on using for the flood anyway.”

_“I might be able to scrounge one up for my favorite media mogul.”_ Maria jokes. _“It’s actually been pretty hard to grab a picture of her. She’s been avoiding the media hotspots like the plague. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time._

“Well I’m glad you were.” Cat says. “Go ahead and send whatever else you have of the flood too. Lisa Bryson was wanting James to put together a gallery for the digital edition, so I might buy a few more.”

_“Sounds good! I have a few pictures of Supergirl that I needed time to edit, so I didn’t post them yet and they are all yours. I’ll send them to you in a couple hours, if that’s okay, along with some other pictures I think you’ll like.”_

“Perfect. And if you have any other sightings of my superhero, I want right of first refusal for any pictures,” she says sternly.

* * *

 

Kara comes back from lunch a while later and while Cat isn’t positive because her hair is in one of those ridiculous buns; it looks as though it is wet. Cat tries to figure out how her assistant could manage to get her hair wet over lunch while Kara checks her email and her phone for messages. Cat abruptly averts her gaze when Kara stands up and walks toward her office door.

“Ms. Grant?” Kara knocks on the door gently.

Cat looks up from the blank home screen of her computer, which she had been studying intently. “Kiera, come in.” Cat lets her curiosity get the better of her. “Why on Earth is your hair wet?”

Kara’s eyes widen. “My hair? It’s wet?” She touches her bun. “Yes. It is wet. Because…I went swimming? I sometimes like to go swimming on my lunch break. I love swimming.”

Cat purses her lips. “I see. I wasn’t aware that there was a pool around here.”

Kara’s hand twitches, as though she is itching to touch her glasses. “It’s a—private pool. At my friend’s apartment building. And he lets me use it?”

Cat doesn’t know why Kara is so nervous about discussing her exercise routine. Swimming would explain the extremely well developed shoulder and back muscles.

Kara continues rambling. “And I’m sorry about my hair, Ms. Grant. I could have sworn the, um…blow dryer got it all. I was in a rush to get back and didn’t notice.”

“Your hair is the least of your problems, as far as your appearance goes.” Cat gestures towards the pastel ensemble of the day. “I was simply curious. Anyway, I assume you need something from me?”

Kara looks confused for a moment before she remembers that she came into the office for a reason. “Oh! Right! I got an email from your PR guy.”

Cat groans. “Let me guess. He wants me to _capitalize on positive press_ or something like that.”

“Pretty much.” Kara looks down at her notes. “He says that you should ‘strike while the iron is hot’ and he wants you to release a statement by the time the evening news starts. Also, he’s putting out feelers to a few of the morning shows.”

“Absolutely not. You can tell him exactly where he can shove that hot iron.” Cat stands up and starts pacing. “I didn’t give those pictures to the Greens so I could turn it into positive press for myself and CatCo. While I appreciate Amanda Green’s gratitude, however misplaced, I am not going to chat with Kelly Ripa about how I made a decision that any reasonable human being would make. It is simply ridiculous!”

Kara smiles gently at her boss. “But you realize that not everyone would make that call, right? And that not everyone would be able to arrange what happened at the hospital?”

Cat dismisses her with a wave. “I made a call to an employee and asked him to pass along a message. I didn’t even organize anything with the hospital, other than calling the chief of pediatrics to give her a heads up that James was going to be contacting her.”

She sees Kara’s skeptical look and feels the need to explain further. “I didn’t want Susan thinking he was just some crackpot who thought he knew Supergirl! Plus, I knew that there might have been some issues getting all of the families back to the hospital, so she needed to know that the expenses would be covered.”

For some reason, Kara’s eyes mist up at this. “You got all of those kids there?”

“It wasn’t a big deal, Kiera. There’s no reason to get all weepy about it.” Cat moves back behind her desk. “Besides, that’s not what everyone is blowing out of proportion. They don’t even know about that. The Internet seems to think I’m a hero or saint or something, just because I made a decision any mother would make. Worrying about your child in a situation like that—it’s not a pleasant experience. I certainly wouldn’t wish it on anyone. My newspaper shouldn’t make money off it.”

Kara steps forward, her hand outreached, before she catches herself. She awkwardly brings her hand back down to toy with her skirt. “I—didn’t know that you had, um, experience with—um. Anyway...What should I tell your PR guy? He seemed pretty definite about making a statement.”

“I already told you to tell him to stuff it.” Cat glares at her. “I’m not making some ridiculous heartfelt statement to be dissected on the evening news.”

“Of course. I’ll go tell him that.” Kara moves to go back to the bullpen, but then turns back around. “It’s just—maybe you should say _something_.”

Cat arches her eyebrows at her.

Kara takes a deep breath and continues. “Well, it’s just that it was an open letter—addressed to you. Even if you don’t think you deserve credit for what she is saying you did, you should still acknowledge that she _is_ thanking you. It wouldn’t even have to be a full statement. Maybe just a tweet?”

Cat sighs. _Why does she have to be right about everything?_

“Fine. But you are writing it. The whole character limit thing infuriates me.”

Kara turns to go back to desk, but Cat quickly stops her. “Where do you think you are going? You can type on your phone here as well as you can at your desk. It’s not like I’m not going to proofread it.”

Kara pulls her phone out of her skirt pocket and sits on the couch. _Why don’t my skirts have pockets? Just because I don’t shop in the junior’s section of Dillard’s doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate utility._

A few minutes later, the younger woman looks up at her nervously. “Ms. Grant? I know I said it would just be one tweet, but I’m having a tough time fitting it into just one. Would it be okay if I did two? I don’t want to use too many abbreviations; it isn’t really your style…”

“I will yield to your millennial expertise.”

Kara types for a few more seconds and then stands to hand Cat her phone.

“I typed it in the notes app so you can see the whole thing.” Kara passes Cat her glasses wordlessly.

**1/2 I was in a position to help pass along a message so I did. I was happy to help.**

**2/2 As far as what I did with the pictures, I made a decision any mother would make.**

“That will be fine. But it looks like you could fit more into the first one, right?” Cat looks at her over her glasses to see her assistant nod.

“Good. Add ‘The real thanks go to James Olsen and Supergirl’ and then I think they will be perfect. You should probably use Olsen’s handle or whatever they call them.” Cat passes back the phone.

“Oh. Um. Sure, I guess.” Kara makes the corrections and shows her the edited text.

**1/2 I was in a position to help pass along a message so I did. I was happy to help. The real thanks go to @jolsen & Supergirl.**

“Perfect. Go ahead and post it, then call whatshisface to tell him that is the only statement he is going to get.”

* * *

 

Kara goes back to her desk and moments later has to mute the Twitter notifications on her phone. The steady stream of mentions from the morning has turned into a torrent, and she has a feeling it is because of Cat’s so-called statement.

She decides to bite the bullet and call the PR guy before he calls her. After he rants for a few minutes about making public statements without consulting him, Kara quietly directs him to Twitter. He is silent for a minute, and Kara tells him that Cat wasn’t going to give him anything more than that anyway, so it is better than nothing. He protests half-heartedly for another five minutes, at which point the hashtag #SaintGrant has started trending. He hangs up saying that they may have to “revisit the matter later.”

Kara smirks and goes back to work.

A little more than an hour later, she hears Cat’s private elevator start to move. Kara looks towards Cat’s office and sees her boss still sitting at her desk. The elevator opens and Carter walks out and heads straight towards Kara’s desk.

“Carter! I didn’t know you were stopping by!” Kara exclaims. “How have you been doing?”

“I’m good! My teacher told me today that I get to compete in the high school’s science fair!” Carter says excitedly. “My Bio tutor had to cancel today though, so Mom had me come here instead.”

“Oh, well I’m sorry about that your tutor canceled, but that is awesome about the fair!” Kara glances towards Cat and then leans in to whisper to Carter. “I bet we can use that as an excuse to get milkshakes though…”

Carter grins.

“Let me go check with your mom to make sure its okay for me to go out for a few minutes. Why don’t you get started on your homework? You can use my desk if you want.” Kara grabs her wallet out of her top drawer and knocks on Cat’s door.

“Ms. Grant? I just wanted to let you know that Carter is here. I thought I would go grab him a milkshake from Noonan’s. He gets to compete in the high school science fair, so I thought we should celebrate!”

Cat gives her a small smile. “Of course. I’ll need you to pick up dinner for both of us later as well. I have a video conference with someone in Sydney at 7; otherwise, I would just work from home tonight. I need to get started making some calls too, since it looks like I’m going to have to replace his tutor.”

“Just because he had to cancel once? I’m sure he had a good reason.” Kara, unsurprisingly, looks ready to fight for someone’s job even though they have never met.

“I’m not that bad, Kiera.” Cat retorts. “He has run into some serious problems with his dissertation research and isn’t going to have the time to tutor Carter anymore. I’m going to make a few calls to NatTech, and hopefully I can find someone else. Carter is particularly interested in biochemistry, and I want him to have a teacher who can spend an appropriate amount of time with him.”

“Oh, okay. That makes sense.” Kara hesitates for a moment, not sure if it would be overstepping to offer her help. She can hear Carter in the bullpen talking animatedly with Winn about the science fair and that makes up her mind. “I could ask around, if you want. I know some pretty sciency people.”

She downplays it a little, figuring that it wouldn’t help her already shaky cover if she mentions that her foster mother is treated like she is royalty when she presents at a conference. Or that Alex probably would be the Neil DeGrasse Tyson of biochemistry if all of her research weren’t so classified that even the President received redacted copies of her reports. Regardless, she has a few people she could call if Cat needs some help.

Cat scoffs at her offer. “No offense, Kiera, but I’m pretty sure your college buddy with a minor in psychology isn’t going to be able to teach Carter with the academic rigor that I’m looking for. Also, Carter spends a good deal of time alone with his tutors, and if your buddies are as good at supervising an adolescent as you…let’s just say I’d rather call my guy at NatTech.”

Kara tries to pretend that didn’t sting as much as it did. Cat has finally gotten to the point where she legitimately trusts her professional judgment, her editorial decisions, and even how to manage Cat’s public image, but she won’t trust her with her to help her son? She chose to save him over an airport full of people! True, Cat doesn’t know that, but still. It hurts that Cat is able to dismiss her so easily and not respect her personal judgment at all.

Kara nervously laughs, pretending to be in on the joke. “You’re probably right, Ms. Grant. I guess I’ll be back with the shakes in a bit, so if you need anything while I’m out, just call.”

As Kara walks to the elevator she hears Carter interrogating Winn.

“So when Supergirl saved you, she inhaled all of the poison gas, right? Do you know how many liters it was? At atmospheric pressure? Just an estimate is okay.”

“Uh…I don’t know Carter. It was a lot? It pretty much filled the whole room, I guess…”

“How big was the room?”

Kara shakes her head with a smile and gets on the elevator. She pulls out her phone and starts a text.

 

Kara Danvers (4:02 pm): Hey Matt, it’s Kara from open mic. I was wondering if you think some Aretha would be a good idea.

Matt Strickland (4:10 pm): Kara! Hey! And we could probably make it work. Mainly because I want to hear you sing Aretha.

Matt Strickland (4:10 pm): It’ll be a little weird though since we don’t really have the people to cover all the parts, you know? I can play sax (I did it some in college), but then we won’t have anyone on the piano.

Kara Danvers (4:11 pm): You can play sax? That is so awesome :D

Kara Danvers (4:11 pm): I can cover the piano, if you want.

Matt Strickland (4:13 pm): Of course you can play the piano. Why am I not surprised?

Kara Danvers (4:14 pm): It’s not that big of a deal. My mom just taught me a little at home. Nothing fancy.

Matt Strickland (4:18 pm): Michaela says that she thinks you are lying. I think she is right.

Kara Danvers (4:19 pm): I swear! And tell Michaela I said hi‼‼‼ Do you want me to send you a link to the version I’m thinking of? That way we can be working off the same thing?

Matt Strickland (4:20 pm): HI KARA‼‼‼‼! I thought of a new stage name: PATTY THE PRODIGY!

Matt Strickland (4:20 pm): Sorry, she stole my phone. We are about to start rehearsal for a show next Friday. Anyway, go ahead and send the link, that sounds like a good idea. I’ll see you Thursday!

Kara Danvers (4:21 pm): Haha sounds good!

Kara returns to the office and hands out milkshakes to Carter and Winn. She holds one up to the glass to see if Cat wants it. She purses her lips, but with a glance towards Carter, she waves Kara in. It is a celebration after all. Cat sips at the milkshake, looking through pictures of the flood on her computer.

* * *

 

Kara barely beats Cat into the office on Wednesday morning; she had been in Richland County for hours trying to shore up a dam. She heads back to South Carolina at lunch, this time directing her efforts to the coast, which is about to get hit with the water coming downstream.

She makes sure to throw in a few extra loops on her way home to get her hair completely dry, not that it was really raining much anymore, but she figures it is better to be safe than sorry. Especially after she saw Cat looking over the photos of Supergirl helping with the flood efforts yesterday. Maybe Kara was being paranoid, but she could have sworn she saw Cat’s eyes zeroing in on her rain-soaked hair…

Kara gets off of the elevator and her superhearing automatically picks up on Cat’s “ex” voice. It contains a degree of loathing reserved exclusively for him.

“Do you realize how much he has been looking forward to this? _You_ were the one that insisted on having him for the long weekend, and now _I’m_ the one that is going to have to tell him something came up. Again.” Cat slams down the phone just as Kara walks into the bullpen.

“Kiera!”

Kara rushes into the office and almost heads straight towards the M&M’s before she remembers that she isn’t supposed to have heard what just happened. She stops in her tracks and looks at her boss. Cat is pinching the bridge of her nose, her head bowed and eyes closed. She lets out a deep breath and finally looks up at Kara.

“I need you to clear my schedule as much as possible on Friday. Carter has the day off of school, and his so-called father had something _come up._ ” Cat’s voice drips with disdain.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Grant.” Kara moves to quietly fill a glass with candy, now that she officially knows something is wrong.

“Don’t be sorry for me, I get to spend the weekend with my son,” she says tiredly. “Carter, on the other hand, was looking forward to this camping trip for weeks. The fact that his shmuck of a father actually got him excited about sleeping on the ground, only to cancel at the last minute, makes me want to strangle him.” Cat pauses to eat a handful of M&M’s. “So do you think you can clear my Friday?”

Kara looks at the calendar on her tablet and frowns. “You have the negotiations scheduled with GestusTech on Friday. I could try to move them to Monday…”

“No.” Cat sighs. “There is no way in hell we will get all of those lawyers in the same room again for at least another month. You will just have to tell your friend William that he can play video games in my office with Carter on Friday instead of at his desk like he usually does.”

Kara’s eyebrows knit together for a moment while she tries to figure out who William is. “I can keep him company too, if you want.” Kara offers, once she figures it out.

“No, I need you in the meeting with me. You know that I can’t spend that much time around lawyers without someone to rein me in. The only thing worse than lawyers is crying lawyers.”

“Right. Well I’ll go make sure _Winn’s_ schedule is clear.” Kara refills the glass of candy and then heads back to her desk. Winn, of course, is ecstatic that he is going to get to spend the entire day getting paid to play video games. On her way home though, she gets an idea and calls Alex.

“Why does it sound like you are renovating half the DEO?”

“Oh…uh… no reason. We just needed to make some adjustments to one of the holding cells.” Kara can hear Alex step further away from the power tools. “Anyway, what’s up?”

“I was wondering if I could borrow some stuff from your office at home. And maybe you could help me pick out what I need?”

* * *

 

On Thursday afternoon, Cat has a brilliant idea.

“Kiera, CatCo is going to have a water bottle drive. We will announce it in the Trib tomorrow and again in the Weekly. Clearly, what’s happening in South Carolina is a tragedy, and since our city’s hero has taken such an interest, we should too. It will fit perfectly with most of the articles in the Weekly anyway.”

Cat looks up at Kara, expecting to see her beaming at her boss’s brilliance and compassion. Instead, Kara is staring awkwardly at the floor, fidgeting with her damn glasses again.

“What?” Cat snaps.

“Actually, Ms. Grant, from what I’ve seen…online…they are pretty good on the bottled water thing. From what I’ve heard…online…they really need stuff like diapers and cleaning supplies, you know? Stuff for people in the shelters, or the ones trying to clean up their houses?”

“Hmm. Interesting.” Cat looks at her carefully. “You seem to know a lot about the whole situation.”

“I’ve just been paying attention; it’s a pretty big news story.” Kara says hurriedly, pushing her glasses further up her nose.

“Well then, how about I put you in charge of writing our call for donations? Since you are so interested,” she says airily. “And whatever logistics go along with collecting and delivering said donations.” Cat adds as an afterthought.

Later that evening, Cat is sitting at her desk wondering why she even bothers to come in on Thursday nights anymore. Kara does all the work for her anyway. _But if I don’t go to the office, I have no excuse to stop by my new favorite bar for a martini. And if I happen to enjoy whatever entertainment they have for the night, so be it…_

“Ms. Grant?” Kara knocks on the doorframe as she steps into the office. “I have the books for you to look at. And the press release I wrote for the flood drive, if you want to look over it?”

Cat skims over the list of suggested donations, as well as a list of local charities that could use cash donations. Her eyes are immediately drawn to the final few sentences:

_Donations will be collected at the CatCo headquarters as well as all CatCo affiliates. Supergirl has volunteered to deliver the donations, as many of the roads are impassible. The first load will be sent on Saturday afternoon._

Cat snaps her head up to look at her assistant. “How the hell did you pull that off?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure how to handle transport; the roads _are_ really bad. I didn’t want all of the donations to get there weeks after they were needed, so…I gave it a shot?”

Cat purses her lips. Supergirl is not CatCo’s personal minion, and they shouldn’t be using her as such. “I can’t ask her to do that, and you shouldn’t have either. She has far more important things to do than run errands for CatCo.”

Kara averts her gaze and mumbles something unintelligible.

“What did you just say? With actual enunciation this time?”

Kara sighs and looks Cat in the eye. “Supergirl said she would have done it anyway, but she knew you wouldn’t accept that. So told me to tell you that to consider it repayment for the favor.”

“What favor? I didn’t do anything for her recently,” Cat fires back.

“The hospital?” Kara looks at her in confusion.

“That wasn’t a favor. If anything, it was _her_ doing a favor for _me._ ”

Kara raises her eyebrows. “Well, she seems to think it was. And _I_ don’t like to argue with Superheroes. Especially when I think they’re right, and that my boss is stubborn and won’t admit that she did something really amazing.”

Cat doesn’t know how to respond to that.

“So did you need anything else, or can I head out for the night?”

“Mmhm.” Cat hums quietly. “That will be all.”

* * *

 

Cat slides into her usual seat, and Nick immediately pushes an ice-cold martini toward her. She graces him with a small smile. _God, I love a good bartender._

“Rocking the ponytail today, I see.” Nick laughs. “Although it is so tiny, I guess it’s more of a bunny-tail.”

Cat tries to glare at him while taking a sip of her drink, but fails miserably. She cracks a smile. “I know. It is ridiculous. But it was this or a fake mustache, so…”

Nick turns to face her full on. “Please,” he says looking directly in her eyes. “Please let me see that. I promise I won’t take a picture. Okay, I would definitely take a picture, but I wouldn’t show it to anyone. I would just look at it whenever I’m sad and need to laugh my ass off.”

“I would endorse Donald Trump first.” Cat deadpans.

Nick grimaces. “I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one. I shouldn’t even joke about things like that. I think I’ll need another drink just to get the vile taste out of my mouth.” Cat drains her glass and hands it to him. He returns a minute later with a fresh one.

“By the way, did you notice tonight’s setup?” He gestures towards the stage, where a baby grand has been placed at an angle in the middle of the stage. There is a mic stand set up beside it. “Rumor has it that we are going to get to see another one of your mysterious assistant’s talents.”

“Hmm. That might be mildly interesting.” Cat thinks that she has done an excellent job concealing her excitement. She has been imagining various scenarios in which she could hear Kara play the piano and is relieved she isn’t going to have to buy a Steinway for her apartment just to force Kara to go piano shopping with her. She needed _someone_ to test it out, of course.

Nick laughs at her. “If that is your idea of a poker face, I would love for you to join our weekly game.”

Cat glares at him and takes a sip of her drink.

“You know that doesn’t scare me anymore, right?” he calls over his shoulder; stepping away to get a few pitchers of beer ready for a server. He returns with a tray of fried pickles. The food reminds her that she actually has a semi-reasonable excuse for coming to the pub that evening.

“I meant to ask you earlier, but do you do weekend brunch here?” Cat inquires.

“Not really, but we open at 11 on Saturdays and our lunch menu is kind of brunchy,” he replies.

“How crowded are you normally? I’m trying to have a quiet lunch with an old friend, and I’d like to have an actual conversation with her without being interrupted by a blogger with a cell phone camera.” Cat grimaces at the steady decline of real journalism. Hell, even when she was a gossip columnist, at least she did proper research. Now they just snap a picture and post whatever story they think fits.

“Honestly, it’s pretty dead until at least 12, and usually it doesn’t get crowded until 1. We don’t really cater to the ‘early riser’ crowd.” Nick looks up and sees that the band is getting ready to start. He reaches under the bar and hands her a menu. “Why don’t you look over the menu?”

The crowd cheers as Kara quietly takes a seat at the piano. Cat notes that the bearded bandleader is holding a saxophone. _Is everyone in this city a fucking musical prodigy?_

Kara tests out a few chords on the piano before giving the band a nod. The intro is immediately recognizable, and the crowd lets out a roar.

_(Ooh) What you want  
(Ooh) Baby, I got_

_(Ooh) What you need_  
(Ooh) Do you know I've got it  
(Ooh) All I'm askin'  
(Ooh) Is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)  
Hey baby (just a little bit)

 

Kara grins at the drummer, apparently not expecting the backup on vocals. The drummer smiles back cheekily.

 

_I ain't gonna do you wrong, while you're gone_  
Ain't gonna do you wrong (ooh) 'cause I don't wanna (ooh)  
All I'm askin' (ooh)  
Is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)  
Baby (just a little bit), when you get home (just a little bit)  
Yeah (just a little bit)

 

Cat can’t see Kara’s hands, but can hear her playing enthusiastically as she sings. She doesn’t seem to be bothered at all by having to play and sing at the same time, keeping in perfect time with the band.

_I'm about to give you—all of my money_  
And all I'm askin', in return, honey  
Is to give me my profits  
When you get home (just a, just a, just a, just a)  
Yeah baby (just a, just a, just a, just a)  
When you get home (just a little bit)  
Yeah (just a little bit)

 

Matt takes over with a soaring saxophone solo. Cat glances over at Nick, who is smiling.

He whispers, “He likes the guitar better, but he paid for school with a sax scholarship. It’s been a while since I’ve heard him play.”

“Well he doesn’t seem to be out of practice.”

 

_Ooh, your kisses (ooh)_  
Sweeter than honey (ooh)  
And guess what? (ooh)  
So is my money (ooh)  
All I want you to do for me  
Is give it to me when you get home (re, re, re ,re)  
Yeah baby (re, re, re ,re)  
Whip it to me (respect, just a little bit)  
When you get home, now (just a little bit)

 

The rest of the band drops out then, and it is just Kara and the piano. Her voice is raw, but she is smiling into the mic, clearly enjoying herself.

_R-E-S-P-E-C-T  
Find out what it means to me_

She interjects a chord with such enthusiasm that she rises from her seat a little.

__  
R-E-S-P-E-C-T  
Take care, TCB 

 

The band reenters and Kara seems to forget herself on the piano. As she sings, Cat can hear her flying over the keys, improvising and embellishing, revealing far more than the basic proficiency the girl had once claimed to her choir teacher.

_Oh (sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me)_  
A little respect (sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me)  
Whoa, babe (just a little bit)  
A little respect (just a little bit)  
I get tired (just a little bit)  
Keep on tryin' (just a little bit)  
You're runnin' out of fools (just a little bit)  
And I ain't lyin' (just a little bit)  
(Re, re, re, re) 'spect  
When you come home (re, re, re ,re)

The song finishes and Kara is greeted with a deafening roar that is becoming standard for one of her performances. She gestures to Matt so he can take a bow (he nods briefly), and to the drummer (she stands up and bows dramatically, throwing in a curtsy for good measure).

Cat is rather pleased with herself. For once, she doesn’t have to feel guilty at all because the song isn’t about her. No one can say she doesn’t respect Kara; she lets her run half the office. _Hell, I trust her more than my publicist! And my network heads!_

Cat finishes off the fried pickles with a flourish and finally takes the time to glance over the menu Nick handed her. It features enough carbs to counteract the liquid lunch she is planning with Lois. Cat hands it back to him with a smile.

She tells him that she will check with her friend, but she is sure it will suit. Nick hands her his phone number on a napkin and tells her to text him once she knows for sure, saying he will switch shifts with someone. He promises to make sure no one bothered them and to keep the Bloody Mary’s coming.

* * *

 

Cat shows up on Friday morning with Carter in tow. Her good mood from the previous night had quickly dissipated when she woke up and remembered that she was going to have to sit in a meeting all morning instead of spending Carter’s day off with him. Kara hands Cat her latte and walks with Carter over to her desk.

“Do you mind if I show Carter some stuff before we start prepping for the meeting? It’ll only take a second.”

Cat waves her towards him and goes into her office. She sees Kara lift a box from under her desk and place it next to her keyboard. Whatever is inside it seems to make Carter very excited. Kara then types something into her computer and shows Carter the screen. She appears to be explaining something to him, and when she is finished she places a large textbook in his hands. He beams up at her and she smiles back before grabbing her tablet and heading into Cat’s office.

“You seem to have made my son very happy for some reason or another.” Cat looks at questioningly.

Kara looks back at Carter, who is completely absorbed in the book on his lap. “Oh, I just borrowed some stuff from my sister. You said he liked biochem, so I thought he might find it interesting. I know you said he could play video games all day, but since you hate for him to waste all day staring at a screen…”

Cat looks at her with surprise. Kara clearly went out of her way to get all of this put together for her son. She doesn’t know what to say, so she just asks, “Your sister is a student?”

Kara laughs. “Thankfully, no. She finished up a few years ago. I wouldn’t see her for weeks at a time when she finishing up her dissertations, so I’m glad _that_ is over with. She’s a researcher in a lab that works with NatTech and a couple other universities.”

“Dissertation _s_? As in more than one?”

“Well, she got her PhD in biochemistry first, but she went ahead and got one in biomedical engineering too. It was just kinda where her research led her, so she went ahead and got it.” Kara shrugs. “But _please_ do not ask me what either of them were about. She starts talking about enzyme mechanisms and some dude named Tim and how he achieved catalytic perfection, and I get lost…”

“I’m assuming she’s much older than you.” Cat is trying to do the mental math of the time it would take to complete 2 separate PhD programs. The sister must well over 30.

“Totally. Alex is, like, over a year older than me.” Kara entire face is lit up just from talking about her big sister. It is clear that there is some hero worship going on.

“Oh. Well then.” Cat tries to hide her surprise. The sister must have finished her first doctorate before most people finished undergrad. It seems as though Kara isn’t the only prodigy in their family.

An hour later, they head out of Cat’s office towards the conference room. Cat checks to make sure Carter doesn’t need anything before they go. It takes several tries before he looks up from the computer screen.

“Sorry, I was just reading this paper—one of those journal articles cited it, so I wanted to read it, and then I looked through this other one…there is so much on here…I can’t believe your sister let you use her login for the NatTech library, Kara! And all of these journals! There must be at least a hundred in this box!” Carter bounces excitedly in Kara’s chair, which is just a little too tall for him. “Can you tell her thank you for me? I mean, this is awesome. There aren’t any pay walls her info won’t get me through!”

“Of course!” Kara motions towards the box. “Alex has a ton more where that came from, by the way, and would love for someone to get some use out of them. Oh, and she told me to tell you to just write down any questions you have, and she’ll get back to you.”

Carter grins and turns back to the computer. Cat smiles as she heads to her elevator, knowing he will be entertained for the rest of the day. As she is getting on, she looks back and sees Kara saying goodbye to her son.

“Just text me if you need anything, and if you get hungry…” Kara wiggles her eyebrows and points towards her bottom drawer. Cat knows for certain that is an exceedingly well-stocked snack drawer.

The elevator door closes, and Cat can’t help but smile again. Kara really does seem to rise to every challenge she is faced with, and there is certainly no denying that she genuinely cares for Carter.

_I guess I could have trusted her to help me find a tutor. At this point, I should really stop underestimating her._ Cat shakes her head.

_I mean, it’s not like I don’t respect her professional opinion in practically everything I do, so I really should start respecting her personal—Oh._

Cat grimaces at the realization that once again, she has screwed up. She really needs to stop doing that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone got my super nerdy enzyme joke, please inbox me. Or if you didn't, you can still inbox me and I will explain my super nerdiness. Basically, I want to nerd out about science and Supergirl.


	8. Monday, October 12th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your author makes up for her long absence with some Carter cuteness, a balcony scene, and some Lois Lane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry y'all. The exam to end all exams took a lot out of me, and then it took a while to get back in the swing of writing. Feel free to judge my writing (because it is definitely still rough even with the patient beta-ing of superqueer), as well as my crap update schedule. I'm working on being better at life. If you've stuck with me this long, I truly appreciate it.

**Chapter 8**

On Monday morning, Kara steps off the elevator with a spring in her step that shouldn’t be possible considering the overloaded box of journals she is carrying. She can just imagine Carter’s face when he sees them.

* * *

 

The meeting with GestusTech finished earlier than they planned on Friday. The contracts were signed and everyone left happy; Kara only had to remind Cat once that the lawyers were necessary, and that she didn’t have the power to fire lawyers that weren’t even hers.

They returned to the bullpen to find Carter still buried in the journals, occasionally pausing to scribble something into his notebook. Winn was pouting at his desk, looking wistfully at the PlayStation he had brought in excitedly that morning. Kara gave him an apologetic smile before going to check on Carter.

They finally managed to drag him away from her desk with the promise that he could keep all the journals until he was finished with them. He nervously handed her two pages of neatly written questions for Alex, which she promised to give her sister that night.

When Kara arrived at Alex’s apartment that night, she immediately regretted giving her the questions before they picked a movie. Alex spent the next hour typing out answers to his questions, completely ignoring her sister other than to say things like “Wow! I can’t believe he made that connection!” or “What grade did you say this kid was in?”

Alex insisted on sending her answers from her own email instead of just letting Kara send it. “He might have follow-up questions, Kara! And it’s not like I’m using my DEO.gov address.”

“There is a DEO.gov?”

Alex slowly shook her head, wondering where she failed her sister when teaching her sarcasm.

Once they finally started the movie, Alex kept pausing it because she would remember another article that Carter would like. She would run into her office with a “just one more, I promise,” and add another journal to the rapidly filling box. Eventually Kara just grabbed the remote and refused to let her pause the movie anymore. Alex only stopped when the box couldn’t possibly fit any more journals. The worst part was that she wouldn’t even tell Kara what she thought Carter was researching. She just smirked and said “You’d be able to figure it out for yourself if you ever paid attention when I talk science.”

Kara fell asleep on the couch, waking up with just enough time to put on her suit and head over to the CatCo plaza. When she got there, she was surprised to see a crowd of volunteers sorting through a huge pile of donations. Carter stood beside a shipping container holding a clipboard, directing everyone with authority. Cat was watching him with amusement.

Carter didn’t even notice Supergirl’s arrival until the container was completely loaded and he closed the doors (with a little subtle help from one of the larger volunteers). He rushed over to her and gave her a full rundown on how the container was packed to ensure that it is completely balanced and nothing would shift during her flight. He talked for about five minutes straight, taking her through his meticulous inventory list (because the donation center will need a proper account of the donation, of course), and how he made sure everything was packed so it could be easily unloaded.

Kara smiled with pride and thanked him for all his help. She moved to pick up the container before he grabbed her wrist to stop her, bringing her to the back of the container. He had laid out several scrap pieces of metal with marks spray-painted on them.

At some point while Kara was carefully cutting the metal to Carter’s specifications and welding it onto the container, Cat wandered over. She smiled as she saw Supergirl being bossed around by her son, who was wearing the safety goggles he had brought just for that purpose.

When they finished, Carter ran to his mother to drag her over to see the finished product. His additions clearly made the container much more aerodynamic. He left his mother with Supergirl so he could make a final inspection.

“Thank you, by the way,” Kara started. “For lending me your son, I mean.”

Cat raised her eyebrows skeptically.

“I mean it!” Kara said emphatically. “I honestly didn’t even think about how I was going to fly with all of this stuff when I agreed to this. I probably wouldn’t have made it halfway across the country if I’d done it my way.” She looked at Cat sheepishly.

“Well, Carter was certainly excited to help. He had some…unexpected…free time this weekend. And he is nothing if not thorough when he sets his mind to something.” Cat looked at the boy with pride. “He enjoys thinking about all of the details."

“He really is something,” Kara replied, trying to ignore the flutter of affection in her stomach when she saw that smile, the one reserved only for Carter, aimed right at her.

* * *

Kara’s good mood lasts all weekend, and she practically floats to CatCo on Monday morning. She can’t hold back her grin as she texts Carter that she is sending a surprise home with Cat’s driver that night.

She hears Cat’s elevator and gives a quick zap to the latte in her hand before she stands to greet her boss. They walk into her office as Kara gives Cat a rundown of her morning schedule. When Kara finishes, she moves to return to her desk, but Cat stops her.

“Kiera, I want to thank you for arranging the drive on Saturday. It was a success, to say the least.” Cat hands her a photocopy of Carter’s list. “As you can see, we sent an enormous amount of supplies, thanks in part to the attention Supergirl brought to the event. I’ve also heard from a number of the local charities we listed, as they have had a massive spike in cash donations.”

Kara looks through the list, trying to pretend that it’s the first time she’s seen it. “Oh! Wow! This is a lot of stuff! I wish I had been able to be there, but you know…I was helping my friend move,” she finishes lamely.

Cat purses her lips. “Yes. You told me. Although most people would try to use any excuse to get out of helping someone move.”

Kara laughs nervously. “I guess they would…Anyway, if that’s all?”

Cat shifts in her seat, looking unsure if she wants to continue, but she steels herself and reaches down to grab something from her bag. She motions for Kara to sit.

“I wanted to…apologize.” Cat looks Kara in the eye. “I dismissed your offer to help me find a tutor, which was unfair. I made it seem as though I don’t value your help, but in reality, you were probably the most qualified person to help me. And in spite of that, you still made sure that Carter had access to all the resources at your disposal. So I would like to thank you, and your sister, for going out of your way to help Carter, despite my unfortunate attitude.”

Kara looks at her boss in absolute shock. She has _never_ received such an unqualified apology from Cat. And that includes last week’s unexpected apology about the Halloween party. _She doesn’t look like she has a fever…_

Cat continues. “If you could thank your sister for me, I would greatly appreciate it. You have no idea how excited Carter was when he got her email on Friday night. From what I can gather, they have been messaging back and forth since. It means a lot to him that someone like her is going out of her way for him.”

At this, Kara chuckles. “Ms. Grant, I’m pretty sure Alex is just as excited as Carter. You should have seen her Friday night. Trust me, she is happy to help a kid as great as Carter. She loves having someone to share all of this stuff with. She even sent me with another box of journals for him.” Kara points to the box beside her desk.

Cat’s eyes soften and the corners of her mouth rise into a small smile. “That is very kind of her.” She picks up the folder she had retrieved from her bag. “My contact at NatTech gave me a list of possible tutors. This folder has their CVs along with the abstracts from their publications. Do you think Alex would mind looking through them and giving me her thoughts?”

Kara grins and takes the folder. “I’m sure she would love to. I’ll give it to her tonight.”

* * *

 

Kara practically bounces into her sister’s lab later that evening, unaware of the smile still plastered on her face.

“Did you pretend like you smelled smoke at the pound again, just so you could play with the puppies? I told you that you can’t keep doing that.” Alex smirks at her younger sister.

“Hey! I only did that once!” Kara says indignantly. “It was really windy that day, and there was a bonfire a few miles north!”

“Of course there was. And that other time, there was a barbeque festival in Opal City.” Alex snorts. “If you didn’t spend all afternoon ‘rescuing’ puppies, why are you in such good mood?”

“Am I?” Kara tilts her head. “I don’t know. Just an easy day at work, I guess. Ready to help out with whatever the DEO needs…”

Alex looks at her skeptically. “Really? Nothing out of the ordinary?”

“Nope! Well, I mean, Cat did talk to me about all of the Biochem stuff you lent to Carter, and how you’ve been emailing him. She wanted to thank you. She thanked me too, not that I really did much other than watch you nerd out.” Kara pauses. “It was weird though. She apologized for not trusting me to help in the first place, and she never does that.”

“Did you check her for a fever?”

“Yup. No fever.”

“Wow. Well at least the mood makes since now,” Alex muses. “I should have guessed it had something to do with Cat. You are practically the human embodiment of the heart-eyes emoji.”

“I am not an emoji!” Kara retorts. “And what does that have to do with Cat?”

“It has nothing to do with Cat. Other than the fact that you have that same look every time you watch her interviews that you clog up my DVR with, or when she compliments you, or when she farts in your direction…”

“I-I have no idea what you are talking about. And I have to keep those interviews, they help me prep her for her upcoming ones.” Kara fidgets with her hands, which reminds her of the folder she is holding. She plops it down in front of her sister, ready to change the subject. “Do you think you could look through this? Carter needs a new tutor, and Cat was hoping you could help her pick out a good one.”

Alex immediately brightens. “Sure! I’ll get right on it!”

Seeing the look in her eye, Kara clarifies. “Nothing too much, just make sure they seem like they would be a good teacher and can keep up with him, you know?” Kara looks at her sister, who is barely listening. She is already pouring through the file. “Cat already vetted them to be alone with him, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Can’t hurt to double check,” Alex hums distractedly.

Kara sighs. “Well I guess I’m going to go on patrol before I have to witness you illegally accessing a private citizen’s records.”

“Good call. See you later.”

Kara catches a glimpse of her sister pulling up an FBI database as she leaves the lab.

* * *

 

Kara decides to wrap up her patrol around midnight. It had been quiet other than helping some medics bypass a traffic jam. Her final loop around the city center leads her towards the CatCo building, where she sees light coming from Cat’s office.

Kara lands on the balcony quietly and watches through the window as Cat flips through a stack of papers, pausing at times to scribble something in the margins with a red pen. After a few moments, she tosses the stack onto her desk and leans back in her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Trying not to startle her, Kara knocks gently on the balcony door. Cat’s eyes open immediately, and it takes her a moment to find the source of the sound. She raises her eyebrows in curiosity when she sees the hero outside. Cat stands slowly; pausing to slip back into her heels, and opens the door for her unexpected guest.

“Supergirl. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Kara steps into the office hesitantly. Come to think about it, she isn’t really sure why she decided to check in on her boss. She doesn’t even know why she decided to fly past CatCo since the area is usually quiet this late at night, but she had allowed herself to get lost in her own thoughts and ended up here somehow.

She doesn’t know how to explain why she is drawn to CatCo when she is deep in thought, because she doesn’t really understand it for herself. So she just responds simply with, “I saw your light on as I was wrapping up my patrol for the night. Isn’t it a little late to be working?”

Cat hums noncommittally. “I suppose. I was working at home and realized that I left some contracts here. I meant to just pick them up and head back home, but I got a little distracted.” She looks at Supergirl carefully. The last time she was in this office, the hero was shaking hands with Kara, making her look like a fool.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Kara can see the exhaustion on her boss’s face along with the beginnings of a headache, which she has learned to head off before they start. She is itching to get the bottle of Advil sitting in the drawer above her snack stash, but she resists.

“No more or less than usual.” Cat gives a half shrug. “And I don’t want to hear a lecture about the importance of sleep. I already hear enough of that drivel from Arianna. It’s easy to sleep when all you have to run is a silly little website.”

Kara snorts in a decidedly non-heroic fashion. “I wouldn’t dream of it Ms. Grant. Besides, it would be a bit hypocritical, don’t you think? I’m out working just as late as you are.” After a pause, she continues. “And I don’t exactly sleep very well either.”

Cat looks at her appraisingly. “I guess one of the benefits of being an alien is you get to have insomnia and still look like a model.”

Kara blushes. “I…uh…thank you?”

“It wasn’t a compliment. Just a statement of fact.” Cat replies. “But I _am_ curious. What keeps our city’s hero awake at night?”

Kara shifts uncomfortably.

Cat sits on the sofa and gestures for Supergirl to do the same. “Completely off the record of course.”

Kara remains standing, turning to look out the window. “I just…I can’t turn my mind off, you know?” She glances back to see Cat nodding understandingly. It’s hard to explain how everything that she pushes to the back of her mind during the day comes flooding back when she tries to sleep. “It’s hard to sleep when you can’t stop thinking about the people you should have saved.”

“You know you can’t save—“

Kara cuts her off. “I know, I know. I can’t save everyone. Trust me, I’ve heard it a few thousand times from my s—my friends. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think about how I could have done something differently. Rao only knows how many hours I’ve spent trying to figure out how I could have been better. Maybe it will help me save the next person…”

Cat stands to join the younger woman by the window. They stand in silence for a moment before Cat’s curiosity gets the better of her. “Rao?”

“Is this still off the record?” Kara asks.

“Of course.”

Kara takes a deep breath, still looking out towards the night sky. “Rao is the star that Krypton used to orbit, our version of the Sun. Well really Rao was our primary god, originally at least, but as the millennia passed and we believed less and studied more, Rao just became the name for our sun.”

Kara glances at Cat before continuing. “The funny thing was that we never stopped thanking Rao for the happy things in life, and we never really stopped asking Rao for help when things went sideways. No one really thought this massive ball of gas was actually going to help us, but we still did it. Out of habit, I guess. The ritual of it all, marriage ceremonies through funeral rites, it comforted us. Unified us. This old religion that no one really believed anymore gave us structure to grieve and to celebrate.”

Kara looks at her boots, staring at a small scuff mark, while Cat waits patiently for her to continue. She searches for the right words, but she doesn’t know how to describe how much she wants that comfort now.

“I still try it sometimes. Praying, I mean. I wake up early and pray to your sun as it rises. I still remember the morning prayer ritual.”

“Does it help?” Cat asks quietly.

“In a way, I suppose. It helped a lot after I first started being Supergirl. I thanked the Sun for giving me the strength to help my—help the people on that plane. The meditation part helped me get some perspective.”

“But what about the other times? You said you had been struggling.”

“I guess it doesn’t work as well for those things. Acknowledging that I failed to the same thing that is supposed to give me the strength to save people…not so comforting.” Kara shrugs and shuffles her feet.

Cat can’t help but think how much the hero looks like her assistant in the vulnerability of that moment. “You could always try to tweak it a little,” she suggests. “The ritual can comfort you even if you change the context a bit.”

Kara looks at her questioningly.

Cat opens the door to the balcony and sits down in one of the chairs. She gestures for Kara to do the same. The younger woman hesitates, and then sits down awkwardly. She pulls her cape out from under herself, and for lack of something better to do with it, just drapes it across her lap. Cat takes a deep breathe and begins.

“I sat shivah for my father. Of course my mother said it was ridiculous, since he wasn’t even a Jew. But it was the only way I knew how to grieve. When my mother’s brother died, we sat shivah. Well technically, my mother and grandmother did, but my father and I stayed in my uncle’s house with them. So in my ten year old mind, I sat shivah.” Cat chuckles. She can still remember her father quietly explaining why her usually vain mother had covered the mirrors before they left for the funeral.

“I was young and I didn’t really understand why my atheist mother was spending a week of her busy life following this ritual, we hadn’t seen my uncle in years, but my grandmother insisted. So Mother did it. More for Grandma than anything else—didn’t want her to do it alone. When Grandma died, we did it again, but my dad was sick by then and Mother’s family was small, so she was the only one sitting. I was surprised she still did it; it wasn’t like anyone was left in the family that would expect her to, but she did. I stayed with her. Grandma was old, so not many people came by. Just the rabbi and the neighbors.”

Cat pauses for a moment, wishing she had a drink in her hand. Talking about her mother does that to her. She sees Supergirl waiting patiently, so she continues.

“Dad died a year later, and Mother let his family handle the arrangements. It takes a lot of time to get all the _goys_ together for a funeral,” Cat says wryly. “It took a whole week before he was buried; I think his sister wanted to make sure everyone had time to make travel arrangements. It was funny to me, since I’ve known Jews that started driving before someone died just to make it in time for the funeral.”*

“So I had to tweak it, the Shivah, there were a lot of Lutherans coming around after all, but it still helped. I figured the casseroles could count as the condolence meal. It didn’t have everything, the hard-boiled eggs don’t really have the same symbolism when they are in an egg salad, but it didn’t matter. It gave me something tangible, a set of things to do to acknowledge what I had lost. God only knows it helped me process it better than my mother.”

Kara still looks confused. Cat chuckles. “Sorry, I’m sure you didn’t come here to hear about the importance of round foods to mourning. My point is that I took the ritual I knew and tweaked it so it fit the circumstances. I stayed home, ate casseroles from the neighbors, and sat on a couch cushion while I received condolences from visitors. I didn’t have a rabbi there, but it wasn’t about the religion to me anyway.” Cat thinks back to how many strange looks she had gotten. _At least I was there though. Mother was back in her office the day after he was buried._

Cat shakes away her bitterness. She has long since given up trying to understand her mother. “Can I make a suggestion? Maybe it feels weird to seek comfort from the sun. You could still meditate or pray, just in front of Rao instead of the Sun. Even if you can’t see it, at night you can at least look in its general direction, right?”

Kara nods.

“It might not be exactly the same, without the sunrise, but you can try it. And if it doesn’t help, or even if it does, you can always come back to talk with me. My balcony is always open,” she says with a small smile.

They sit for a few more minutes in comfortable silence before Cat glances at her watch.

“Well I suppose I should get back home and try to get to sleep. I do have a multi-national corporation to run. And you probably have some sort of a day job that you need to wake up for in the morning…”

* * *

 

The next two days are quiet for both Supergirl and Kara. She goes to lunch on Wednesday with Alex and returns with a plain binder marked only with “Cat Grant.” Cat raises her eyebrows at the impressive thump when Kara puts it on her desk.

“Sorry, Ms. Grant. My sister can be a bit…thorough,” she says sheepishly.

Kara watches as her boss thumbs through the binder, which contains the transcripts (all the way through high school) of all the tutors, reviews from former students, and a summary of what Alex believed to be their strengths and weaknesses. She had them ranked in the binder from most promising to least.

Most surprisingly, the student Cat had been favoring was last in the binder. Instead of the summary Alex included for the rest of the tutors, the only note was “not a suitable candidate.”

Cat looks at Kara questioningly. “And _why_ , might I ask, is this one not a suitable candidate? She couldn’t elaborate any more than that?”

Kara avoids making eye contact. “Well, uh, Alex didn’t tell me. Maybe she knows someone who knows him? But she didn’t want to betray a confidence?” Kara sneaks a peak at Cat to see if she bought it. No such luck. “She is a pretty good judge of character though, so…” Kara trails off. _It’s not like I know for certain that Alex accessed all of their personal information and Internet histories using questionable (at best) legal reasoning._

Cat looks at her skeptically. The rest of the report _is_ meticulously detailed, and she knows better than anyone the importance of keeping sources private.

“Very well. Tell your sister thank you, and that I owe her a favor. You can go ahead and draft an email to the tutor she recommended. I’ll look over it after my meeting.”

 

 

Unfortunately for Kara, her Thursday was not as quiet as the rest of the week. She was called away after lunch to help wrangle a massive rock covered alien running rampant in a park in the suburbs. It took hours for her to lure him away from the civilians, and almost as long to explain to him that he was just too big to play on the swing sets.

James covered for her and told Cat that there was a plumbing problem at her apartment, saying that Kara had to clean up the mess and wait for her landlord to call the plumber. He helped handle all the editors while Winn covered the phones, but it was still a hectic afternoon.

Even with James’s help, Cat is ready for a drink by the time she sends the Tribune and Weekly off to the printers. She is turning off her wall of screens, about to head to McHale’s just to see if Kara had managed swim out of her apartment, when a story catches her eye. One of the stations is showing live coverage of Supergirl playing tag with a giant alien in the desert. She decides to just head home to see Carter.

* * *

 

**Friday**

Kara Danvers (12:30 pm): Hey Matt! Sorry again for not making it last night. We had a crazy night at work, and my boss made me stay late.

Matt Strickland (12:35 pm): Totally understand. My boss can be a complete hard ass sometimes. Tips did suck last night without you though…

Kara Danvers (12:36 pm): I’m sorry :(

Matt Strickland (12:37 pm): Eh. It’s not your fault people are cheap. We’re doing some sets tonight to try out stuff for a demo, so you should stop by to say hi. I know Michaela would love to see you.

Kara Danvers (12:38 pm): I’ll definitely try! Hopefully I’ll get out of work in time…

 

Kara makes her way to the front of the crowd at McHale’s while the band is playing their first set. She had hoped to leave work in time to get a change of clothes from her apartment, but she had a lot to catch up on after missing most of the day before. She stands out in her bright yellow dress, but she doesn’t care. She is too busy watching Matt shred his way through a guitar solo.

When the song finishes she cheers loudly with the rest of the crowd. Matt plays the first few notes of the next song before he spots Kara and immediately stops. He grabs his mic out of the stand and addresses the band. “Hang on, hang on, hang on. Y’all, I think I just found a solution to our little problem.”

He turns to the crowd. “As you can see, we’re getting ready to start our acoustic set, a little Clapton _Unplugged_ , but we’ve got a problem. Our pianist got sick right before we came on tonight.” The crowd groans.

“I know, I know. It stinks. We were going to just make it work, but I think I’ve got a fix, if y’all can help me out. See it turns out, I’ve got a friend in the audience that owes me a bit of favor—not to mention a bit of tip money. Y’all might know her from Open Mic Night.” He has a sparkle in his eye as he reaches down to drag Kara up onto the stage. “Do y’all think you can convince her to fill in for a song or two? I promise, she’s a hell of a pianist.”

Kara blushes as the crowd roars. Matt winks at her and whispers, “Only if you want to.”

She smiles and gives him a hug. “Why not? I can’t promise much, but I’ll try.” She sits down at the piano and adjusts her seat.

Matt grins and tells the band to skip to the third song in the set. He leans over to Kara and tells her to just play whenever she feels comfortable.

Kara recognizes the song immediately when he strums the opening chords. Michaela gives her a nod and they join in as he plays. He angles his body towards, raises his eyebrows mischievously, and starts crooning:

_Alberta, Alberta,_

_Where you been so long?_

_Alberta, Alberta,_

_Where you been so long?_

He gives her a puppy dog pout, and she holds back a laugh. She answers on the piano with a cheeky little turn.

_Ain't had no loving_

_Since you've been gone._

 

_Alberta, Alberta,_

_Where'd you stay last night?_

_Alberta, Alberta_

_Where'd you stay last night?_

She leans towards him and says “Some of us have day jobs.”

_Come home this morning,_

_Clothes don't fit you right_

 

He gestures towards her dress, and she actually lets her laugh loose this time. He gives her a nod and she plays the verse as a solo. She takes the energy from the crowd and the band and just plays. Usually she tries to not show off too much, but she doesn’t hold back for once. She’s having too much fun to worry. As she plays out of her solo, the crowd applauds and Matt smiles through the rest of the song.

 

_Alberta, Alberta,_

_Girl, you're on my mind._

_Alberta, Alberta,_

_Girl, you're on my mind._

_Ain't had no loving_

_Such a great long time._

 

_Alberta, Alberta,_

_Where you been so long?_

_Alberta, Alberta,_

_Where you been so long?_

_Ain't had no loving_

_Since you've been gone._

 

The crowd cheers when they finish, and Matt makes her stand up and take a bow. She ends up sticking around for the rest of the set, and she gets more and more comfortable playing with the band. When they wrap up the set, Matt asks her if she wants to play anything while they go on break. He figured she had planned something for open mic that didn’t need the band, since she had only asked for the piano when she texted him earlier in the week.

Kara sits back down at the piano and plays an introduction. She closes her eyes, takes a breath, and begins to sing.

_I only pray at night,_

_When the world disappears_

* * *

 

Cat walks into McHale’s at 11 am on the dot for her brunch on Saturday. Nick meets her at the door and leads her through the empty restaurant to a back table, which can’t be seen from the front door or the windows. She had texted him earlier in the week to confirm the details, and is pleased to see the Bloody Mary’s already at the table.

“Does this all work for you?” Nick asks. She nods her approval. “Although, I don’t know why I’m being nice to you. It’s your fault I had to listen to pitchy show tunes all night on Thursday. What work crisis is really more important than my bleeding ears? And my empty tip jar?”

Cat bites back a snappy retort. Kara clearly had used her as an excuse to not show up for open mic, and it doesn’t seem prudent to correct the misunderstanding. _Not that I think Kara is hiding anything important…_

“Yes. Well, I will make sure to keep your sensitive ears in mind when I’m trying to manage my multi-billion dollar media empire.”

“I’m glad I’ve helped you straighten out your priorities,” Nick laughs. “But at least it worked out in the long run. Matt’s pianist for last night was puking in the back room from a hangover, so they were going to be royally screwed until Kara stopped by to see everyone.”

Cat is about to ask him more when she is interrupted by the arrival of her brunch guest.

“Kitty, it’s been too long! Although I wouldn’t know it based on your face—forever frozen in time. I guess that Botox is working for you.”

“Ah. The less fortunate Lane. I’m assuming you didn’t stop by to see your sister on your way here. Lucy would never let you be seen in public with you hair looking like that.”

Nick’s mouth hangs open as Lois laughs loudly and pulls Cat into a hug. He recovers as Lois takes a seat and takes a sip of her drink. They are already chatting animatedly about her flight over. He promises to be back in a few minutes to take their orders.

They barely stop talking long enough to order (by then they had progressed to discussing the upcoming election), and Cat is in the middle of a rant about her board when he brings their meals. He can’t get over the fact that the women who couldn’t attend the same awards dinner without making some sort of a scene were acting like they were the best of friends.

When Lois leaves to go to the restroom, Nick gives Cat a pointed look.

“What? I told you the bloggers would have a field day if they knew.” Cat replies casually. “We got our starts when it was hard for one woman, much less two, to make a dent in the glass ceiling. The Daily Planet was a boys club, so it would have hurt Lois more than helped if they knew we got along. I made enough enemies as I was making my way to the top, so playing up the rivalry helped her make her own mark when she started a few years after me.”

Nick nods. “I guess that makes sense. But why do you bother keeping up the charade now?”

“To be perfectly honest? It is _really_ entertaining,” Cat laughs. “Also, Lois is steadily rising up the ranks of the Planet, and we don’t want anyone implying that CatCo is pulling the strings.”

“Well my lips are sealed.” He mimics zipping his mouth closed. He is about to walk away when he turns back suddenly. “I almost forgot! I found something in the back room that might help with your _research_ project that I know is so very important to you.” He hands her a flash drive, which she quickly pockets right before Lois returns to the table.

They spend another hour sitting around chatting before he slips them out the back door into the alley. Cat gives Lois a warm hug as they part ways. When Cat gets home, she spends the rest of her day watching and re-watching Kara’s performance from the night before.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *True story. We started driving up to NYC before my grandma even died so we could go to the funeral.
> 
> Links to the versions of the two songs I listened to are up on tumblr (catcoworldwide). They are Alberta (from Eric Clapton Unplugged) and I Only Pray at Night by John Fullbright.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr at catcoworldwide


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